


The Remnant

by AmberValCepri



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Angst, Avengers Bucky Barnes, Blackmail, Civilian Tony Stark, Comic Book Science, Drug trafficking, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Identity Porn, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, M/M, Maria Stark's A+ Parenting, Maria Stark's Good Parenting, Non-Consensual Drug Use, PTSD, S.H.I.E.L.D. is Still Around, Secret Identity, Secret Relationship, Slow Build, Teacher Tony Stark, Torture, Undercover Missions, Winter Soldier and Civil War Still Kind of Happened, mental manipulation, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:22:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberValCepri/pseuds/AmberValCepri
Summary: Tony Stark told himself he tried to keep a low profile, even if Pepper and Rhodey would argue the statement till they were blue in the face. He kept himself out of any S.H.I.E.L.D. contracts, didn't blow up M.I.T. buildings despite the students that tried to help him in the endeavor, and kept careful track of his contracts. None of them knew what was in his basement though. They'd be killed if they did.But a set of blue eyes attached to a too-well known soldier comes along and threatens that lifestyle. Because Tony Stark can't help falling hard and fast when the White Wolf keeps coming back.





	1. Open Wounds and Hurried Stitches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghost by Mystery Skulls

“What the hell?” Tony said sharply under his breath as he looked down at the battered, masked man tucked between the brick wall and the dumpster behind his student workshop.

He’d been going about his nightly chores to clean up and shut down after all the students had left, and part of that was taking out the trash. He certainly hadn’t expected to find an unconscious, masked man that looked like they'd been thrown into a fire pit while doing said menial chore. He had no idea when or how the man got there, since Jarvis should have spotted the guy when he arrived and told him. “Seriously, what the hell?” he mumbled under his breath again as he considered what to do.

He knelt in front of the man, hesitant to reach out to him as Jarvis piped up, “I’m looking into it, sir. I can’t place exactly when he could have arrived, but the corner around the dumpster does create a blind spot I had yet to account for. I will correct this immediately. There were several cars that came through recently that he may have arrived via. I will check the footage and look for all possible discrepancies.”

The ear piece Tony kept on him at all times was tucked in just behind the tragus of his left ear. It was completely unseen but made it so he didn’t need to talk loud enough for the general room to be heard by, or to hear, his AI. He studied the man a moment longer before reaching out to see if he could wake him. The instant his hand touched the man’s forearm it was captured in a bone-crushing grip and a knife was pressed to his neck. “Shit, fuck—okay, um—listen, I’m not gonna hurt you. Just wanted to see if you were alive,” and gestured as best he could at the dumpster the man was leaning against then to the open door behind him.

Wild blue eyes bore into Tony, the knife pressing a bit deeper, drawing blood. Despite that he couldn’t help noticing that the arm holding his was partially covered in burns and the proximity made the smell catch in his nose in a nauseating way. Jarvis was frantically asking to contact authorities, but Tony kept quiet, knowing Jarvis wouldn’t do so without his approval. Carefully, the knife was slowly pulled away, though the blade was still held before the man defensively. Tony took a deep breath and gestured to the door behind him again, “My shop. I can get you to a hosp—”

The knife was back at his throat, “No hospitals,” Blue Eyes snarled.

“Ok, ok, ok!” Tony said quickly, “No hospitals, but you’re beat to fuck. You probably need stitches in that head wound, I think I can see your skull,” he added with a grimace.

This was a stupid idea, and he could practically hear Jarvis’ frustration despite his silence. It didn’t change the fact that Tony knew that mask though. White Wolf, the ghostly back up for the Avengers. The only reason they had even given the guy a pseudonym for the public to latch onto was because he had had to come in to save several of the Avengers alongside Black Widow and Falcon once, and it had put him front and center in a very loud and spectacular way. He’d blasted his way into a vault to get to the Avengers before a chemical gas killed them and half the city of Philadelphia.

The mask was distinguishable enough, but that was easy to remake. No, what really gave him away was the weapons setup. He had a penchant for knives, specifically Russian tactical knives, Tony could make out three aside from the one at his neck. Then a glock and an old model M1911 at the man’s side, though he was missing his signature sniper rifle that he used to near perfection. To seal it, he could see a sliver of metal on the arm holding the knife at his throat. A metal arm. How did Tony know enough about him to recognize the weapons the man tended to keep on his person? He had something of a love/hate relationship with the Avengers and their organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. Their organization had tried, and failed, to recruit him multiple times and he’d had a few jaunts into their databases in search of his own information and, while he didn’t dig into personnel information (mostly because he’d decided that screwing around with the firewalls that were wrapped tightly around them wasn’t worth the trouble), there was some other general information that was not so tightly protected. It was easy enough to come across and he’d gotten a good picture of the White Wolf in full battle gear from it. He couldn’t help saving it for reference if he ever had a reason to come face to face with any of the Avengers and needed Jarvis to find weaknesses. Or so Tony told himself.

Now, with the Wolf – nope, he liked Blue Eyes better, especially since he was getting so intimately acquainted with them – glaring very real murder at him with a knife at his neck, he was glad for his discretion. He had enough things to deal with, he didn’t need more. After another long pause the knife lowered again, and Tony took deep breath of relief. It didn’t last though, as Jarvis sent a warning ping for intruders. They had a code when words would just get in the way, especially since, to anyone else, Jarvis was supposed to be an AI similar to Alexa or Siri: not a full-blown learning AI with his own personality and emotions. Blue Eyes snapped his head around to look over his shoulder, seeming to listen more than look, and then he was grabbing Tony and dragging him back into the workshop. Then there was two-hundred plus pounds of agent/soldier/spy/whatever his designation within S.H.I.E.L.D. was, pressing Tony up against the wall next to the door that closed surprisingly quiet behind them.

One hand still held the knife but now the flat was over his shoulder with the blade facing out and away from Tony towards the door. Blue Eyes’ forearm was pressed across his chest, and it was way too solid beneath the leather and cloth of his tactical jacket, further confirming it was not flesh and bone. He was about to make a mental note of it, and maybe a comment because that’s just what he did in high stress situations, when the hand not holding the knife came up to hover over his lips to signal silence. They stayed like that for a long moment, Tony fighting, and occasionally losing, the urge to fidget beneath the marksman. Almost at the same time that Jarvis signaled the danger was gone, Blue Eyes let up but didn’t push away entirely.

Tony raised an eyebrow, but then he felt the wet spots on his tank top and glanced down, “Fuck,” it was blood, Blue Eyes’ blood.

Blue Eyes tried to push completely away once he realized what Tony was referring to, but he swayed dangerously. Tony caught him by the arm, tucked under it, and pulled him to one of the large tables that littered the huge student workshop.

“Jesus, you weigh a metric ton,” Tony complained as Blue Eyes grunted in response and leaned heavily on him before catching the edge of the table to steady himself. “I’ve got a med kit here, have to with all the engineering that goes sideways easily enough,” Tony half babbled, “one second.”

Tony made sure Blue Eyes was steady at the table before striding across the room. He was lucky it was the end of his class, all the projects and materials gone and tools put away. Otherwise, he would have had to clear out all kinds of things to make space for the man. When he turned back he could see that the man was starting to pull off the gun harness, which didn’t remove even half of his weapons, and opening the tactical jacket underneath. He could see the Kevlar vest beneath, covered in blood from what looked to be very precise stab wounds. Whoever gave them to him knew where the Kevlar would stop, making them the best weak points to hit.

The engineer came back over quickly with the med kit, “Let’s see how bad those knife and burn wounds are.”

Tony went to take the Kevlar off first, but Blue Eyes stopped him quickly. Tony sighed, “I am not going to shank you, Blue Eyes. Otherwise, why would I bother getting the med kit out? It’d be easier to find some random tool in here and just blast you with it. Hell, that wall,” he gestured to the one behind him, “is all nail guns and screwdrivers. Now let me see what the hell was done to you.”

Blue Eyes glowered at him a moment more but allowed it, pulling off each layer until the man was shirtless. Tony couldn’t help trailing his eyes over the signature metal arm, making sure there was no doubt he was really the White Wolf. The arm looked like it had been crushed in a few places, scorch marks trailing viciously across it, and had difficulty moving, meaning that patching himself up would probably be incredibly difficult. That was more than likely the only reason why he was allowing Tony to help him. The thought made Tony’s eyes quickly move to the six stab wounds and the burns on his right arm, “How are you alive?”

The marksman seemed to want to say something, but thought better of it and just shrugged, making him wince. Tony glowered at him in return and tested the stab wounds. They were deep, but the blood flow was sluggish. So, either they were healing incredibly fast, or Blue Eyes was going to pass out soon. From the sharpness of his eyes, option one seemed most likely. Tony sighed and began working on cleaning the wounds, “Well, since I don’t know your name, and I know you’re not going to tell me your name, I’ll just keep calling you Blue Eyes. My name’s Tony. Yes, I know you’re an avenger. No, I’m not calling you White Wolf or whatever because I have a habit of shortening things and calling you ‘Wolf’ just feels weird, so Blue Eyes, or Blue. Work for you?”

The marksman didn’t say anything, instead looking at Tony in slight amusement instead. “All right then, ahh…” he considered the wounds, “Well, I’m not a physician, but I know well enough how to stitch a wound and treat a burn. Let me just-“

Blue shook his head as Tony went for what could be used as makeshift stitching (he wasn’t about to explain why he had that in a student workshop med kit) and pointed to the gauze. Tony gave him an incredulous look, but the man gestured to the gauze again, “Don’t need ‘em, just gauze’ll do,” he finally said, voice low.

“You will bleed to death before midnight,” Tony pointed out.

Another shake of his head and Tony sighed, “Fine, fine, I can at least tell them when they come accusing me of killing you that I tried to get you to go with stitches, but nope. You just wanted gauze.”

Blue shrugged again, earning him a wince as it jarred the burns and the stab wound in his shoulder once more. Tony plucked out the necessary items to treat the wounds as best as possible. He was careful as he worked, making sure there wasn’t anything left inside the wounds (in case it wasn’t a knife he was stabbed with) before packing them and patching gauze over each one. The burns he couldn’t do much about. If he was guessing he’d say they were bordering on third degree burns with a few spots he knew had to have crossed that line. The most he could do was put the burn cream on them all, patch some gauze over the worst of them, and hope. The startling thing was how the edges of the burned tissue were pinking, like they were healing already. For just a second his mind went back to his old man’s stories about Captain America’s serum. That couldn’t be it though, not possible. What the fuck kind of steroids was this guy on? Or maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. had figured it out?

He pushed the thought aside as Blue hissed and swayed when he passed over the worst of the burns. They were almost blackened but he couldn’t do much outside a hospital, “Hey, whoa, steady there, Big Blue,” he said, putting a hand on his metal shoulder to steady him.

“Thought I was Blue Eyes…” The man slurred, glancing nervously at the hand on the metal of his arm and then back at Tony.

“Yeah, penchant for nicknames, Terminator? I’ll probably have six more for you before the end of the hour,” Tony said with a small smile, adding another just to make a point.

The marksman huffed at him but remained conscious through the rest of the patching up. There was a moment, while Tony was cleaning his head wound and the blood that ran down under the mask, where they both paused. Blue gave him a narrow look that Tony just smiled at before cleaning around the mask as best he could without really touching it. Once he was sure there was no excessive bleeding he bandaged it with some butterfly tape and leaned back, “I’d offer you a place to stay, but I don’t think you’d take me up on it.” Blue confirmed with a shake of his head, “So, anything else I can do for our friendly neighborhood Avenger?”

The man regarded him for a moment, then shook his head, “Thank you,” he seemed to finally settle on.

“Hey man, just doing a service to the people that tend to save someone, somewhere on a weekly-ish basis,” and flashed him a grin.

Blue’s eyes crinkled to show his amusement before he stood, steady this time, gave a lazy salute, and left silently through the same side door they had come in through. Tony waited a bit, letting the footsteps disappear into the quiet of near midnight while the empty workshop closed in around him. He took a slow, but semi-panicked breath, “Fuck, Jarvis, I just helped the White Wolf. Fuck.”

“Indeed sir,” Jarvis answered, his voice unimpressed and exasperated.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Bucky arrived back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters roughly an hour after he’d left Tony’s workshop. It took another two hours to get through medical, where they sighed over the makeshift patch up job Tony had done while the debrief was set for three days out with the rest of the team. With the mess that was his arms they wanted him to rest up and be able to either fix his metal arm or get a new one before briefing. It was tempting to get out the arm that Shuri had given him before he left Wakanda two years ago, but he was wary of S.H.I.E.L.D. learning too much. They were good people, but they took liberties he didn’t like sometimes, and he had promised to not let anyone toy with her tech. Especially since it was made of vibranium. So instead, he kept what S.H.I.E.L.D. gave him unless it became absolutely necessary to switch.

This entire mission had been one big cluster fuck. It was supposed to just be a small nest of AIM operatives, an outlying base for them to gather more information from. It was only the tip of an iceberg though, and it had ended with almost a dozen freshly injected Extremis soldiers, two of which failed immediately, and a rabbit hole that extended farther than it should have.

Bucky had gotten separated from the others while trying to get some of the Extremis soldiers off Natasha and Clint long enough for them to get into the base and start dismantling it from within. Then, instead of circling back around to rejoin the team, he had kept moving outwards, taking what heat he could off them. That ended up being more than he could handle after one got a lucky shot in and overheated before Bucky could find cover. That’s what had caused the burns on his right arm. He’d managed to kill the other soldiers and then lose the last of them before climbing onto the back of a van for a quick getaway and abandoning it in the city to tuck away behind that dumpster.

The breather in Tony’s lab? Workshop? Whatever it was, had been enough for him to return to the base to find and help take out the last of the Extremis soldiers before reporting back to the Avengers compound. The compound itself was situated underneath the main New York Headquarters for S.H.I.E.L.D., similar to the Triskelion in D.C., and there were multiple floors dedicated just to housing and protecting the identities of the Avengers. Now he sat in their common room, ice on his burned arm to keep the blistering down as it healed, and his left arm gone while the tech guys fixed it or made a new one. Steve sat across from him and Sam and Clint were in the background playing darts.

Steve was freshly showered and wearing casual clothes. Bucky gave the blond a sidelong grin and waved with his free fingers, “Hey Stevie.”

“Hey Buck,” he said, then sighed, “You know I’m going to have to talk to you about that stunt you pulled. Again.”

Bucky resisted the urge to roll his eyes and Steve shook his head, “Don’t do that. You know why it’s not acceptable. You’re not a lone wolf anymore and you have a team and good people backing you up. You are also not expendable, so don’t try that argument either.”

A sigh left him, Steve already knowing each of his arguments by heart after two years. Bucky looked at his best friend with a tight expression but nodded, “I know, and I know it’s been two years, but old habits like these die hard Stevie.”

“I know Buck, even after your time away… It’s a lot to work through, so I’ll keep calling you out each time you do it,” Steve responded, reaching out and clapping his knee lightly.

“All right, ya’ stubborn mule,” Bucky said through a grin, making Steve chuckle.

They leaned back into the couch and Bucky snorted as Clint hit another bull's eye and Sam groaned, "You're never gonna win a round with him, Feathers. Same way you won't beat Steve or me on the track," he teased their aerial support mercilessly.

"'Ey, shut it metal man, I have a better chance of beating this slack off here than you or the captain. At least he's a normal human," Sam shot back, cursing as he landed outside the bull’s eye again.

"You think Clint's normal? Pretty sure the circus screwed up the normal part for him," Steve dropped in.

"Ouch, Cap, ouch," Clint said as he took his shots, easily beating Sam.

Steve just smiled and looked over at Bucky again, "They really tore into you there, Buck. How's it healing up?"

"Not bad," he said, wiggling his fingers again, "By the time I got to medical the lesser burns were already trying to scab over and the stab wounds had stopped bleeding completely. I just don't want to deal with the blistering, that's the worst."

When asked where he had gotten patched up Bucky had only said that he broke into a shop, couldn’t remember which one, and stole some supplies. No one questioned it considering his track record of actually doing just that.

With a grimace he shifted his arm, the movement making the ice over some of the more tender blisters fall and a short flair of pain went through him before it dulled again. Steve grimaced in sympathy, "Yeah, not a fan."

Bucky was unable to resist teasing his best friend, "What, not a fan of skin bubbling up with extreme heat, filling with liquid an-"

"Oh, come on, man!" Sam yelled from the dart board, having turned fully to glower at Bucky as he took on a slightly green shade.

Bucky burst into laughter at the look and glanced back over at Steve, expecting an equally grossed out expression. Instead he had a fond look on his face that Bucky raised an eyebrow at. Steve shrugged, "It's good to see you so relaxed. Even though it's been a few years, it's sometimes hard to find a moment when you smile or laugh again."

Bucky sobered a little, "I know, after everything that happened with me running and then the crap with Zemo... Didn't seem like there was much for me to rebuild."

Steve nodded, then quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dampen the mood more than he already had, "When you going to get that arm back you think?"

"Techs said to give them a day or two. Should have it back by debrief. Gonna be awkward till then though," he said with a shrug.  
  
"Wait, so we're not gonna have to help you around or anything are we?" Clint asked, making a face.

If Bucky had his metal arm he'd have flipped the archer off. Instead he settled for yelling, "Not if I don't have to yell at you ‘cause you can't hear shit!"

"Say what?” Clint mocked, pressing to fingers behind his ear like he hadn’t heard anything before returning to the darts, grin still plastered on his face.  
  
Coming to be an Avenger had been a very long and convoluted path. It'd been five years since Steve came across him purely by accident. He'd been on assignment when some whack job had decided to release overgrown, murderous monkeys into the Bronx. Bucky was trying to take out a prominent business man who wasn't too fond of Hydra’s propositions but had ended up trying to dodge monkeys instead. He managed to get his target, but in line-of-sight of Captain America and his superior eyesight. Steve had gone after him and they would have fought if not for the fact that one of the monkeys had managed to rip off his mask. Getting a look at his face had sent Steve on a warpath, and it ended in a decommissioned military camp, a lot of explosions, and Bucky breaking his programming while that bastard Zola-program tried to keep him in line. It was hell and Bucky had bolted after nearly killing most of the Avengers.

It took another year for Steve to track him down again, but not before a vengeance obsessed man tried to pin blowing up half the UN on him. That was another train wreck with a vengeful Prince T’Challa in the middle of it all. It ended up good and awful. Steve was in-between law keeper and criminal while Bucky was offered sanctuary in Wakanda to try and get the triggers and conditioning out of his head.

Bucky had very little clue what went on with the outside world in the two years he was in Wakanda. He focused on Shuri getting his head straight and then finally being able to rest.

But a soldier gets restless and Bucky finally decided to join up with Steve after the good Captain was able to say that he wasn't going to be arrested in multiple countries and Bucky had been acquitted of any charges raised for things he did under Hydra’s control. Bucky'd kept to the sidelines for the most part, only coming in as necessary. Until Steve and the others got themselves in too much trouble and he'd had to get in the middle of it all. They all kept their identities close to the chest though, no one wanted their normal faces plastered all over the media. Only Steve had that misfortune, but it was kept to as much of a minimum as possible, his mask featured in almost any pictures in the media. Steve carried it well enough and they all helped where they could.

As Bucky continued to watch Sam and Clint go a few more rounds, Natasha appeared and gave him an exasperated look before telling Steve to go get him fresh ice. Clint won by a mile, and Bucky thought back to Tony as Steve rooted around in the freezer and Natasha set herself down across from him. Tony had known he was the White Wolf, not that his mask wasn’t a dead giveaway, but it was easy enough to remake a mask that was splashed across one too many media outlets. He’d seen the way Tony took in his weapons and then didn’t balk at his metal arm. He’d known from the second Bucky reached out to grab him behind the dumpster. It intrigued him, even terrified him a little, but mostly he wanted to know more about the man. It helped that his workshop looked interesting, not the clean order of a S.H.I.E.L.D. workshop or the twisted madness of Hydra. It was like a car mechanic’s garage, but so much more complicated.

It made him want to go back and get to know the guy. Bucky wasn’t sure what he’d say or do, maybe just a bit of a ‘thanks for making sure I wasn’t dying’? Maybe. He’d think about it after he was healed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this basically helped me prep for and get through major surgery. Because nothing says 'constant anxiety attack' like being told you need to have your chest sawed open to fix your heart cause otherwise it'll kill you ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
> 
> I still have a lot of ideas for this, but I figured I'd start posting what I have monthly for the time being. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, song at the beginning is just a song that I thought went along with the chapter.


	2. Who are You, Who am I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Only Constant is Change by BT

Tony’s head bobbed along with the beat, lip-syncing to Brian Johnson as ‘Shoot to Thrill’ blasted through the student workshop. It was about three in the morning and he had just come up from some late-night diving into Stane Industries databases. It was a successful night, having found just enough information to know that he was on the right track. He’d been looking for the discrepancies for years now, but he was getting so close, so very-

He would deny the sound he made to his dying day as he turned to find White Wolf – nope, Blue Eyes was still better – leaning against one of the metal worktables, watching him with an amused look. Tony took a deep breath, “Oh good Christ, what the hell are you doing standing around in the dark in the middle of the night like that? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? You are, aren’t you?”

Blue’s eyes did that crinkling thing like last time when he was amused. Tony noted he was not in combat gear this time; instead he had on a pair of black, loose jeans, combat boots, a turtleneck, leather jacket, a ball cap, and pair of gloves with his hair pulled back into a short pony tail at the base of his skull. However, he was still wearing his Avengers mask to hide the rest of his face. There were no clearly defined features, as the mask was situated so that you couldn’t make out how his jawline might set, or how his nose would slope, and the cap hid his forehead and hairline. The only thing you could really say anything for sure about was his eyes; And yet somehow, he still managed to look hot as hell. “I just got here, so I haven’t been hanging around just lying in wait for you,” Blue said as he set a blow torch he had been examining aside.

And apparently his voice was really nice when it wasn’t graveled over with pain and blood in his lungs. Tony quickly gathered himself, sauntering for to the man, and glowered at him, “Yeah, that’s why you were fiddling with a blow torch like you had nothing better to do.”

He shrugged, offering nothing else, making Tony scoff before finally saying, “All right, what are you here for this time?”

Blue grimaced a bit before shaking his head, “Not here for anything. I just wanted to say thank you. Not many people would take in a masked man and patch him up while it was pretty clear he was being pursued. Especially after they held a knife to their throat.”

Tony swallowed at the memory, the nick of skin still healing and feeling suddenly very obvious, “Yeah, well, what can I say? I couldn’t just leave you bleeding out behind my shop.”

Tony didn’t expect it when Blue reached out and his gloved finger tips touched Tony’s jawline. The engineer froze in confusion, but Blue just tilted his head up slightly so he could see the small cut on his throat.

There was a beat between them where Blue looked very unhappy with the wound. When it looked like he might say something, Tony took the moment to pull away and interrupt him, “Jarvis, turn music down.”

A ping to signal the AI’s understanding and Blue raised an eyebrow. Tony shrugged, “I made my own Siri. One day I’ll get him sentient and then allow him to take over the world.”

“Sorry to say, I’d have to stop you, then. Plus, advertising that out to an Avenger so easily? Pretty poor evil scientist etiquette right there,” Blue pointed out as he relaxed back, picking up a pair of plyers and expertly wielding them like a knife.

“Pfft, please, evil engineer would be more accurate. Get it right, Big Blue,” Tony corrected haughtily.

Blue snorted but sobered quickly, “You could have, though, left me out there. I would have been fine eventually.”

“Yeah, if whoever was chasing you didn’t find you first. Which was highly likely,” the engineer crossed his arms defensively.

“It would have been safer for you, but I’m glad you did it anyway,” Blue seemed to struggle with gratitude in a similar manner Tony did, though he wondered how the other man had come across the quirk himself.

“Do you want to pay me back or something? How about a date at a nice restaurant?” Tony shot back, hands settling on his hips and eyebrows waggling playfully.

Blue pointed to the mask, “Bit hard to do a dinner date when you can’t pull off the mask to eat.”

“Fine then, scrap the dinner part, what about a movie or something?” Tony paused, “Wow, ok, I sound a bit desperate there. How long has it been since I last had a date that didn’t devolve into something school or work related…?”

He hadn’t actually meant to think about it, but the thought came anyway. It had been several years, mostly because Stane’s threats kept getting worse. Bile rose in his throat at the memory. Years ago, Tony had been willing to forget what Stane had done to his father. The man had undermined Howard and basically stolen his company from him, then drove it into the ground before creating a new company from the ashes with his name all over it. Tony didn’t really care about the company itself, because it just reminded him of what a drunk his father had become. Then he went and got himself killed from alcohol poisoning when Tony was just entering MIT. It had been that last cherry on top after the divorce.

After Tony got out of college, he had a company that was just starting out. Just the nuts and bolts really, but it was something and there was interest from investors. It was going to focus on domestic robotics and AI programming. So, when people had begun withdrawing their interest, he’d been surprised. Then, Stane came to him with a threat that if he tried to move forward with the company, something that could encroach on many of Stane Industries’ secondary sectors, he promised to do the same thing that he had to Tony’s father: Get him thrown out altogether. Over the years he’d threaten everything that Tony held dear; Rhodes, Pepper, Happy, even his mother. On occasion, he had come a bare inch from making good on his promises.

So, Tony had a very large bone to pick with Stane. That’s why he took the dive into hacking, that’s why he was in New York now: to be closer to his target. And, consequently, it was how he’d now ended up with one of the Avengers staring at him, one eyebrow raised. “How long?” Blue asked.

“Few years, I think. It sucks,” he finally said, taking the out he was being given for his overly long pause.

“I got you beat,” Blue said before immediately talking over any possible follow up questions, “What do you do here anyway?”

“Ah well, it’s a test class of sorts. I run a series of classes that last one month each. It’s a crash course in high level robotics and programming and, if you make it through my gauntlet, it can open a lot of doors to interesting places,” he explained.

Blue’s interest was clear as he leaned toward Tony. It was enough to send the engineer into a full-blown explanation, low level but intricate, that had him as animated as ever. Blue engaged, his questions simple, but it was clear he was trying to understand and catch it all. By the time Tony was done, he had somehow herded Blue into his apartment on the second floor to get a snack and something to drink. He moved to offer some to Blue but stopped short when he remembered the mask. He frowned, “Don’t you have something like a straw slot?”

Blue huffed a laugh, “I don’t normally wear this in everyday situations. This is an exception to my preferred look.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Fine then, I’ll make you one for when you’re visiting me, so you can actually function something like a normal human being.”

“You’re expecting me to come back again?” Blue asked with a tilt of his head.

“Why wouldn’t you? I’m fucking amazing,” Tony said with another waggle of his eyebrows and a smirk.

It was enough to make Blue’s eyes crinkle in that way that Tony liked.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Tony looked at the nearest camera with a disappointed look, “Really, Jay? You couldn’t give me a bit of warning?”

Blue had just left, and Tony was back in his personal lab, “I apologize, sir,” Jarvis started, “White Wolf is remarkably good as avoiding cameras.” Jarvis was a liar, “However, I have found that he apparently has some tracking on him.”

“Really? What kind?” Tony asked, immediately suspicious.

A display came up in front of Tony, showing where the signal had emanated from on the marksman, “One in a cell phone and another that I believe is located in his arm.”

Tony nodded, “Can you hijack them?”

“Sir, might I remind you that he is an Avenger. If he finds out about your less than legal activities, it will—” the AI was cut off by his creator at that point.

“I’m aware, Jay. I promise you I am, but… He seems so eager, just to learn. How can I not foster that?” Tony said, and it was only half of a lie.

Blue had soaked up everything he could in the last few hours. It was clear he was smart, but maybe he’d never been given the leeway to pursue that interest before. There were a thousand reasons Blue may or may not have gotten into science, and Tony had a soft spot for people wanting to learn, especially if they showed the interest Blue had. Watching the stormy blue eyes light up as they understood something? It made Tony want to do more, and when the discussion deepened with that new-found knowledge it just egged him on. It didn’t help that Blue was damn gorgeous when he wasn’t covered in blood and the mask did nothing to stem Tony’s attraction. He knew Jarvis was right, but he could keep it in check, he could keep his distance.

“If you insist, sir,” Jarvis said with a sigh.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Sam threw an ill-aimed punch at Bucky as they circled one another on the training mat. Bucky easily dodged it, “Really, Wilson? You’ve got better than that,” he gave the Falcon a light punch in the side where he usually kept an easy opening.

“Aww, come on man! Cut me some slack, I’m the goddamn air support. You usually go easy on me ‘cause of that,” he paused only because he had to dodge a jab from Bucky’s knee, “Or are you uneasy cause you went running around without Cap yesterday?” Sam jeered, grinning as Bucky looked at him in surprise, “Man, you never go much of anywhere without Cap, and it’s never for half a day. So, yeah, we noticed.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Just for that you get no slack whatsoever,” and landed two more hits, both a bit harder than they should be.

He never went easy on anyone, just adjusted his fighting to better train them, either to push their weaknesses or play up their strengths, it depended what they needed. Sam was damn good, but he was not a super soldier or trained in hand-to-hand like most of the rest of the team. ‘Going easy’ on Sam just meant he didn’t go after him to make sure he knew how to take a beating correctly, like with Steve. Sam blocked the next hit, but he was distracted by his own teasing of the marksman, “Oh man, you are! The covenant has been broken! Look what you’ve done to this family, goin’ off without your husb-AH-Oof!”

The teasing was cut off as Bucky easily pinned Sam to the mat, having swept his legs out from under him and pinned him with a knee to his hip and an arm across his throat. A moment later Sam tapped out and Bucky climbed off him quickly. Bucky sat back, taking a breath, “Well, that was painless.”

Sam groaned, “Says you,” Bucky chuckled, making Sam glare at him, “You’re never this smug with Nat.”

“Because Nat can actually beat me, and she pays attention. You don’t.” He explained, nudging the other with his foot, “Oh come on, I wasn’t that harsh.”

“I think you broke my hip,” Sam complained from his spot on the mat, making Bucky laugh again, “But in all seriousness, it’s good. To see you getting out on your own time without Steve, I mean. You need that. I don’t care where you’re going as long as it’s not dangerous to you or others. You should do it more often.”

Bucky gave him an uncertain look, “It’s… difficult being on my own. A lot of memories like to come up when it’s just me. When Stevie’s around, or any of you guys, it’s easier to quiet or drown them out.”

Sam sat up, folding his legs and shaking off the aches from the pin Bucky had just had him in, “I get it,” he said, “we all get like that. But you’ve been holding on, and I know it’s different, but you need this. Tell me you are going to keep doing this, going out on your own and such?”

Bucky paused, thinking, then nodded, “Yeah, I will. As often as I can without Stevie freaking out.”

Sam snorted, “Let me handle Steve if that becomes an issue. Last I talked to him though? He was happy as a clam about it.”

The sniper raised an eyebrow, “’Happy as a clam’? I believe our old-time talk is startin’ to rub off on yah,” he let his Brooklyn out a bit more and Sam groaned.

~~~/~~~/~~~

“You know,” Clint said from where he was sitting on beam of the gym ceiling, firing arrows at moving targets across the large space, “I feel like there’s a wedge between us. Not a dog shaped wedge, but a beefy blond or brunette shaped one.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “Just because you’re jealous of the time I spend with our super soldiers, doesn’t mean there’s anything there.”

“You’re the one that hasn’t been over in a week, Nat,” Clint grumbled.

Natasha sighed internally, then with a quick turn and a flick of her wrist, threw a knife at Clint that clanged at the metal beside him and caused him to squawk indignantly as he tumbled off the beam and onto the matts below. She walked over and looked down at Clint, “You’re an idiot.”

Clint huffed, “An idiot in love apparently.”

Her expression softened, and she dropped onto his stomach. He let out a heavy ‘Oof’ and groaned as she settled herself, “You should watch yourself more closely. I do.”

Clint blinked up at her, settling a hand on her thigh, “You keeping tabs?” And grinned, because that meant she was watching him, even when it seemed she wasn’t.

She leaned forward to kiss the corner of his mouth, “I always have tabs on you, lyubov moy.”

He relaxed visibly, “Then come by for a visit, Tasha,” he said, letting his hands link around her hips, “Lucky likes you, even if you don’t like him, Kate thinks you’re awesome, and I like it when you’re there.”

She let him have a shaky smile as the only illustration of her insecurity. Staying with Clint more meant it was getting serious, more serious than it already was, and she wasn’t entirely sure how to handle that just yet. She tucked her insecurities away quickly and leaned forward, “I’ll be there tonight, promise.”

Clint grinned up at her, “Perfect. I’ll have your favorite takeout. Save you from my cooking.”

She laughed at that, “Thank god for small mercies.”

~~~/~~~/~~~

Bucky didn’t go back to Tony’s immediately like he wanted to. It felt like an offer of a special secret all his own, when it really shouldn’t. Something outside what Steve and S.H.I.E.L.D. had created for him, outside of Wakanda even. He’d done his research; he knew who Anthony Edward Stark was. He was the son of Howard Stark, the man that had outfitted the Howling Commandos during the war. When he’d found out what happened to Howard he almost wondered why Tony kept his name instead of taking his mother’s in the divorce, but he was sure there was a story there that wasn’t his to ask after. He was sad to hear what had become of a man that had once been able to walk into a room and wrap it around his little finger with a few quick quips though.

In all honesty, Bucky wondered how he had only been to the workshop twice and just the atmosphere of the building and Tony’s magnetic personality made him want to rent a room so he could bask in it and hear Tony’s rambling all the time. But instead of wondering about it for hours, he took the advice Sam had been giving him for months now and tried to find other places that felt comfortable. Or places that didn’t necessarily make him comfortable but made him remember, made him focus on something. He wandered around Brooklyn, trying to reconcile it all against what he could still remember of the slums he and Steve had grown up in. It wasn’t the same without Steve with him but that was the point. He needed to take this in on his own and understand it like that. It was hard at first, fighting down all the in-between to match up old with new. He’d tried a few times to do this in the past two years, but he’s always found a reason to hide from it. He couldn’t keep doing that.

Eventually it became a little easier and he found a little coffee and pastry shop that used to be a bakery he liked in the 40s. One that would let him sit for hours at the corner table and just soak the city in. Then he’d usually ride the subway or bus to get to some other far flung location, like Jersey, or that one time he went upstate; That’d been interesting.

It was rewarding and relaxing, but still muddling because of the in-between. He could remember he’d had a mission down this street from the café once to clear out a gang of kids that were undermining a drug operation HYDRA was funding. He couldn’t remember when it was, maybe the sixties from the decorations of the safe house he’d been put up in. Goons would have been enough to handle them in reality, but this was a punishment. He’d tried to outsmart his handlers and slip away. He’d been too long out of the ice, so bits and pieces were coming back. It ended in hours of torture, and him having to kill what turned out to be the sons of men he worked with before the war. They’d made sure that afterwards he had a good idea of what he’d been made to do, then wiped him and froze him again.

Now, he could still remember their cries for him to stop. It haunted him, but he needed to learn how to deal with that without latching onto the first person that showed kindness as his coping mechanism. He’d been going out every other day for the last two weeks when he came in one day to Natasha in the seat opposite of where he normally sat at that little cafe. He got his coffee and pastry, then sat down as if it were perfectly normal for her to be there. The spy gave him a smile, “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Nat. What’s got you out this early?” He sipped the coffee.

It wasn’t the best he’d ever had, but it was good and made with care. That was enough for him. Natasha’s smile widened, “Checking up on you. Sam finally get you to go out on your own more often?”

“Yeah, I’ve been trying; just needed some time to convince myself of it, get comfortable with the city again,” he admitted, turning the coffee in his hands absently.

“No more ghosts?” She asked.

He was glad she was blunt with him, even if it made his chest tight. For the first few months he’d been back, things had been rough. He’d kept seeing what he thought was HYDRA operatives everywhere. He wasn’t sure why anymore, just how they acted, how they went about things, sometimes faces… It had all felt so much like HYDRA that he’d been terrified he’d been losing it again. It’d taken a great deal of therapy, therapy he was still in, to get the ghosts to let go of their hold. In Wakanda it was easy: everything there was so different from the world he knew there was no way to overlap the two in his head.

Bucky shook his head, “No ghosts, I’m not running anymore, Natshechka.”

“You haven’t been running for a while, Yasha. That doesn’t stop me from worrying a little,” She looked up at him again with a searching look.

He gave her the same look in return, “I’m not stopping you, but I’m fine.”

Her smile finally warmed, and she settled back to drink her coffee again, stealing some of his pastry despite him clearly watching. “I have been doing some research, on people I knew before and during the war. Seeing where they went, what became of them…” He continued.

“Those are still ghosts, Yasha,” she said with a frown.

“No, Nat, not like that. It’s… it’s helping put stuff in perspective, helping me understand that they’re gone. Hell, it’s learning stuff like how Howard eventually became a drunk that ostracized his wife and child before he died, after losing his company, that helped me separate then from now a bit more. His kid’s brilliant apparently, a teacher for MIT, right?” He explained, trying to put his thoughts into words.

“You know about Anthony Stark?” Natasha asked, a bit surprised.

“And Morita’s kid, a principal now I hear; and Monty’s daughter. I’ve been avoiding Rebecca’s kids, I’m not going to drop in on them, but before it was hard to even think about them. Now it’s just nice to know that they’re living well,” he elaborated.

Natasha seemed to relax at that, satisfied he wasn’t going to get lost in those years in-between again. He couldn’t blame her; he’d fucked up bad when he first came back. He’d almost sent himself back to Wakanda in a fit of panic, but T’Challa had talked him down. He was eternally glad the king had.

Natasha’s smile was back as she stole more of his pastry, “There was a chance that Stark would have worked for us, you know? We did a full write up on him and everything. But, despite his brilliance, he has a laundry list of authority issues that would make him integrating with the team… difficult. They still tried, because he’s the best out there. He always turned us down though.”

Bucky’s eyebrows raised, considering he hadn’t seen any of that when he had interacted with the man. But he’d also only had two small encounters with him, “I dunno about that Nat, I think having someone other than Sam or you contradicting Steve would be good.”

“And you don’t?” She asked with a smirk.

“I do, but even I have a tendency to just go along for the ride. Someone with authority issues? It’d challenge him,” Bucky pointed out, and silently wondered why he was arguing this.

“We have a good, solid dynamic, why bring in possible dissent?” Natasha asked, finishing off her own coffee.

“Because maybe a little dissent would make us see a better way of handling something. We don’t always come up with the best solutions, especially when most of them end in killing or imprisoning,” he explained.

Natasha laughed, “We fight aliens, mutated insects and animals, various anomalies of seemingly impossible science, and you’re saying we need to get out of our box?”

Bucky chuckled, “Well, when you put it like that, I suppose I’m reaching.”

She shrugged, “Besides, we have bigger fish to fry.”

He realized an eyebrow, “How do you figure?”

“You know who will be back soon…” She started, a grin pulling across her lips.

Bucky paused, “Thor’s coming back?”

Her grin widened, “He is, and you remember how he moped when Thor left.”

“Don’t I know it. And the man wouldn’t even let me start in on why. He gave me this death look mixed with a sad, kicked puppy look. I don’t even know how he managed it,” he said in exasperation.

Natasha snorted, “It’s a special look just for that occasion.”

“So, what do you have in mind?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Setup, so much setup, but fun to write. I loved Bucky and Natasha's scene, because their background is so intertwined in the comics I wanted to bring that in. Also, I'm still salty about what was done to ClinTasha in the MCU. So. Very. Salty.


	3. Well, There's Good News... And Bad News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Innocence by Madeon (feat. Aquilo)

“Rhodey!” Tony grinned widely as he pulled up the video holo to smile blindingly at his best friend, “Platypus, they finally let you off radio silence?”

Rhodes chuckled, “Yeah, long operation, but it was worth it. You got a bed for me for a few nights before I head to Philly?”

Tony scoffed, “As if I wouldn’t. When you going to be out of debrief and cooldown or whatever else?”

“A few weeks, then I’ll be all yours, Tones,” the colonel leaned forward, weariness showing, “It’ll be good to be home.”

The fact that Rhodes still said that in relation to where Tony was made his heart swell and his stomach drop all at once. Rhodes knew what Stane had done years ago, he had to tell him when he declined an armor and communications contract with the army. It would have been huge for him. Rhodes had been furious, but without any evidence, and Stane had made sure there was none, their hands were tied. Tony didn’t tell him it had kept happening.

So, he didn’t know the lengths Tony was going to to make sure Stane understood his mistake. One day he would probably have to tell Rhodes, but not yet. He wouldn’t drag Rhodes into his war unless he had no choice. “It’ll be good to have you back,” he said readily.

Rhodes took a deep breath and leaned back again, “So how’re your classes going? How is your ‘Avenger Watching’ going?”

Tony had been about to open him mouth to talk about his latest class when the second question came, and he groaned, “You are never going to let that go, are you?”

Rhodes laughed, “Nope, never. Finding your log of fuck knows how much news footage on the Avengers was not creepy at all, Tones.”

“It’s research. Whoever their tech guys are are plebes! I mean, I could make Widow Bites at least twenty times better than what Widow has, and Hawkeye needs more than just four types of arrows; I can think of five different ways to have them reload and expand the ammo amount,” he ranted, hands turning into claws of frustration.

Rhodes laughed, but he knew better than to tell him to take up the offer S.H.I.E.L.D. had made a few years ago. Even if the offer itself had been awful and led to months of back and forth, did he really want to get involved with the organization Howard had helped start? One that Stane was half invested in? Did he want to go back down the road that had led to ruin? Instead he was working with MIT and various contracts across the globe from robotics to prosthetics, on new holoscreens, affordable energy, and so much more that didn’t even touch weapons. It didn’t stop him from reverse engineering things and then crying silently at the lack of innovation for one of the teams that was protecting the damn world.

A long breath from Rhodes and Tony gave him a sympathetic smile, “Tired?”

“Yeah, just… It was a rough op,” he admitted.

Tony nodded, “Go rest up, I’m glad you’re back in one piece, platypus.”

“Thanks Tones, I’ll see you soon,” and the call ended.

There was a long moment of silence that Tony settled into, wishing that he could tell Rhodes so much, but knowing it was better this way. “Sir?” Came Jarvis’ voice, interrupting his wallowing.

“Yeah, what you got Jay?” Tony asked, and he pieced himself back together.

“I am picking up a familiar signal,” he advised.

“Same one from the last two times?” He knew who Jarvis was talking about: White Wolf, or Blue as Tony had taken to calling him.

“Yes, shall I proceed as we planned?” The AI asked, an algorithm popping up for Tony to look over.

“Yep, make sure S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t know he’s coming here, bounce him around Yonkers for a bit or something. And thank you for telling me he was coming this time,” Tony said, sarcasm underlaying the last bit.

“Of course, sir. Though I cannot promise against any future glitches,” came the prim response.

“Killing me here, Jay. Slow death by assassin attacks and rogue AIs,” and put a hand over his heart, taking on a pained look.

“I endeavor to hide my creation, sir. If you always knew, White Wolf would become suspicious,” the logic was there, but Tony couldn’t help pouting because he knew how much it amused Jarvis.

“Your logic doesn’t fool me, Jay. You’ll be the death of me,” and pointed at the nearest camera.

“That would go against my prime directive, sir,” and Tony thought Jarvis would be smiling if he had a face.

Tony rolled his eyes and jogged up out of his lab. He was making his way to his apartment, about to prepare for Blue’s arrival, when he flicked on the lights to find the man sitting at his kitchen counter, a gun out and half dismantled.

That ungodly sound left his throat again and he swore vengeance on Jarvis for not telling him he was here already, and instead implying that he had time to actually prepare for the man. A string of curses left him and he turned, pointing at Blue as he growled out, “You are a bastard and I hope you rot in hell.”

Blue burst into laughter, head tossing back and eyes squinting at Tony in his mirth, “Don’t worry, I’m sure hell’s got a real special spot for me for all the shit I’ve pulled in my day.”

“Well, good. Now, if you don’t mind, I think I need a drink to counteract the bullshit that is you and your magic appearing acts,” and went for the liquor cabinet.

He paused, then straightened, “Oh, so, yeah, um… I may have made that mask I talked about last time.”

Blue raised an eyebrow at him, almost done cleaning the gun he’d been working on. Tony shrugged and moved over to a large table in the living room that had a number of things charging on it. He picked up the mask from its charge station, and held it out to the other, “It’s just meant for when you’re here. I mean, if I can figure out how to extend the energy life of the nanites then it could be indefinite, but right now it needs to charge every eight hours to hold the appropriate shape, but I’ll let you know when I figure out the energy issue.”

Blue looked at the mask quizzically, it certainly didn’t look like much. It looked like a thin material, with two long metal wires with evenly placed nods along each. In-between was a soft material, but you could feel the strength in it. Blue gave a nod as the other explained how to put it on, then looked up at Tony expectantly. Tony held up his hands, “I’ll go into the living room, let you fiddle with it and all that. Let me know when you’ve got it on.”

He half stumbled into the living room, (because holy hell, White Wolf was actually going to wear his tech!) and signaled for Jarvis to stop recording in the kitchen. He wasn’t going to break this weird trust they seemed to have with one another. The mask was part of that whole Avenger’s Watching thing that he refused to admit to. He played around with a lot of things, Blue’s mask was just one of them. He’d been considering a full nanite build from an ear piece as a housing site but scrapped it for the time being since he couldn’t get the power source to work yet. So instead he went with a titanium inlaid fabric with tension layered edges and seams that housed singular nanite nodes that would automatically adjust to settle to the shape of his face. It made it so he didn’t need to see and measure Blue’s face in order to build it and it would lose its shape the moment it came off. It was highly breathable but still strong, and there was measured slats that he could open if he wanted more air or just something to drink.

God, he was fidgeting like a teenager that just gave their crush a love letter. What the hell, Tony? Get a grip.

“Got it on,” Blue called, leaning around the corner into the living room.

“Oh, it’s good?” He asked as he turned.

“Yeah, should tell the techs at S.H.I.E.L.D. to take some notes,” Blue said with a huff.

Tony checked it over, making sure the nanite points’ sensors were consistent and that the fabric wasn’t fraying or over-tight from how it was being pulled. Blue let him, Tony’s fingers gently playing over the edges as he scrutinized it, though there was a note of caution in his eyes, “Well, I personally don’t care for mostly secret agencies that don’t know if they want to be in or out of the shadows. Besides, there’s no way in hell this is battle ready,” because despite how excited about Blue using his tech he was, it couldn’t be used by the Avengers, not with Stane still around.

Blue’s eyes narrowed at Tony stepped back, “You’ve made ones for a fight?”

Tony paused, “Umm… yes?”

Blue tensed visibly and Tony quickly raised his hands again, “It’s a hobby, I do it with most things I see. I reverse engineer it, then piece it back together, but better. The mask is clearly more than just a mask if the team communication is anything to go by, and y’know, breathing. It’s not hard.”

“How much time do you spend doing that hobby?” The Avenger asked as the sudden raise of his shoulders bled out of him at the explanation.

“At any given time? Or on one project?” Tony asked.

“One project,” and Blue went back to his gun as they moved back into the kitchen.

“Depends. Your mask only needed a half an hour for me to figure out the nanite points and the best fabric to use. I had Widow’s Bites in pieces on my holoscreen in forty minutes, Falcon’s wings in an hour, took apart a jet in three…” He trailed off shrugging, “I’m a genius, I had my first doctorates before I was twenty.”

“Jesus,” Blue murmured, looking impressed, “And all I can do is smash faces in.”

“And you do it very well and your marksmanship is fantastic,” Tony said with an affirming nod, as if by him saying it was all the confirmation needed.

He could tell Blue was smirking under mask. It still hid the shape of his face and hooked back behind his head to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere. For anyone who wasn’t paying attention it looked almost identical to his old mask, “If it gives you any discomfort, let me know. I made it with comfort in mind and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Blue nodded, then held out his now-clean gun, “Can you do anything with this?”

Tony scoffed, “'Can I do anything with this’ he asks. Give it here!” And snatched up the gun, already knowing the accuracy could be better.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Pepper’s fingers flew over her keyboard as she sat waiting for Tony to come out of the bedroom of his suite, working while he got changed for the conference they were attending. She’d known Tony since he was twenty-three and he had come to her about managing his finances. She’d been freelance contracting at the time and making a fair bit of money. When she’d proceeded to find a mistake in his math, he’d asked her if she did any other type of work. She’d been skeptical, Tony seemed young and flippant about everything, but she’d given him a shot with some mediator work. It had taken off. She became a part-time personal assistant and contracting mediator that also managed much of his finances when it came to his work outside MIT.

Now, years later he was more of a friend that still happen to make up about 80% of her income. She’d learned quickly that a lot of his nonchalant snark was made to keep people that just wanted to get near him for some sort of leg-up at a distance. He was one of the best teachers at MIT and every project he did was well known for its success. It made her wonder at times why he didn’t start a business, but it was a sensitive subject that seemed wrapped in what had happened to his father and the fallout that followed.

This week was a tech conference back in Boston, near MIT though not at the college campus. It was actually across the Charles river at the Hynes Convention Center. Tony was there as one of the main presenters on green energy, his work on various projects, including the arc reactor that now powered several MIT buildings, was still huge three years later. She knew he was working on a smaller version, one that wasn’t just portable, but ran on a fuel that could be easily acquired. She’d seen a prototype, but he kept it close to the chest, even with those he considered friends. A knock on the door and she closed her laptop and grabbed her touchpad instead before standing, knowing who it would be. She smiled at seeing Happy through the peephole, Tony’s preferred bodyguard when he left his Manhattan workshop. She opened the door with a smile and opened her arms to the big man, “Happy, it’s good to see you!”

He returned the hug briefly, “Good to see you too, Ms. Potts. Tony ready yet?”

“Yep, all set!” Tony called from behind her, just stepping out of the suite.

Pepper stepped aside and closed the door behind Happy, “Hey Boss, how’s it going?” He asked with a bright smile.

“Not bad, you ready to deal with me all day?” Tony asked with his normal tilted grin.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, boss,” Happy said and beckoned them along.

Happy led while Pepper and Tony trailed behind, Pepper starting on the normal rundown of the event, “You have a meeting with the PR team in half an hour, then the opening ceremonies and charitable acknowledgements for the next hour. Then three back to back presentations, all your favorite topics, followed by lunch with three of the younger MIT students you’ve had your eye on for your next class. The head of the Engineering school is not happy you chose them over a lunch with him—"

“I had lunch with him last week, I don’t understand why he’s still having such a fit over—” Tony cut in.

“Considering you could have seen the students last week and him this week, I think the message—"

“—the only message I gave was one of clarity, don’t—"

“—you have made sure that the students got more exposure—"

“—the students need the exposure ten times more than he d—"

“—then you have to deal with the angry department head that helps make sure you still have a teaching job,” she finished, not missing a beat as she peered at him with a bland look.

He returned the look but sighed, “If I have to placate the man, at least I can get something out of it.”

“Not having to have dinner with him to make it up to him at a later date?” She offered.

Tony considered it, Pepper waited because where Tony was stubborn, she was patient. Finally, he scoffed and yielded, “All right, I’ll buy the man something that will distract him via science.”

“Just because you’re richer than him doesn’t mean you’ll always be able to buy him off,” she pointed out, a smile tracing her lips.

“And when the day comes that I can’t, I will promptly call you for backup, promise,” he returned the smile and the doors opened to the elevator Happy had led them to and they stepped inside.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Tony leaned forward on the table as he listened to Riri animatedly explain the headway she was making on the ion fusion engine she was designing. The idea was outlandish, but if made to work correctly and, more importantly safely, it had merit and should be pursued. Peter had a few good ideas on the uses of photography in science, but he needed to dig into it a lot more if it was going to mean something. Harley just wanted everything to blow up and had no qualms explaining all the ways he could do it. Inventively, imaginatively, scientifically.

The lunch had gone well, he’d barely noticed the food, though the kids had been smitten with it, and paid as much attention to them as possible. They were all young, in their mid-teens, and geniuses in their own rights. They had all gotten into MIT at a different level than the other, but they all had the promise he’d been looking for. They were wrapping up lunch now, but he still had them for another hour. A careful sound queue in his ear alerted him to Jarvis needing his attention.

As Riri continued talking he kept himself carefully attentive to her as Jarvis spoke softly, “Sir, there is a situation happening throughout the conference. Surveillance is being routed in specific areas and security is leading people off in a discrete manner initially, and once in those rerouted areas I cannot trace them again. Security seems to be clearing out the administration from the third floor as well. I believe getting the students out would be prudent.”

The next breath she took Tony cut in, “One sec, I’m done with this food, you all done with that?” He pointed to his and then their eaten food and they all shrugged.

He smiled, “Then let’s get some air. I’ve been up for eight hours already and it’s barely noon, that’s not even fair. There’s a hardware shop just a few blocks from here. I want to see what you guys can make with the bare minimum. Riri, keep going.”

They stood, Riri seeming completely nonplussed by his interruption as she dove back into her plans. Tony signaled Happy and dropped cash on the table. Then with a wave of his arm he was dragging the kids from the convention center. He promptly placed himself half a step behind them, trying to make sure they sure they got out first. With the students ahead of him he whispered, “Tell Happy to get Pepper out, immediately.”

He glanced beside him and Happy was frowning deeply. When he finally locked eyes with Tony he was decided not happy. He silently begged the other man to find her. He couldn’t have her or him in the middle of whatever this was. He could take care of himself, but neither of them were aware of what he was capable of. It was clear Happy wanted to argue, but instead he stepped up beside him and said, “You get out with those kids.”

“Of course, Hap,” Tony said, it was the plan, barring any security interference.

Happy nodded and as they reached the doors to the center he broke off, going to find Pepper. The moment Happy stepped away Tony could see security in the corner of his eye making for him. He rushed the kids out and kept them moving. Yet one managed to catch up with him, “Sir! Sir, you’re wanted at the main hall.”

Tony frowned at him, “For a Political Science talk?”

The man shrugged, “I just do what they tell me.”

“Really? No independent thought? No questions? No ‘Well that’s weird? Should I really do that?’ Come on, man! It’s the twenty-first century!” The guard didn’t seem to know what to say to that as his comrades caught up.

Tony rolled his eyes, pulling on every bullshit ability he had, “Listen, if they really needed me, they would have planned ahead. Handling these kids comes first, so if they are that upset about me not coming at beck and call they can take it up with me later. Right now? I have a field trip to complete,” and turned on his heel and left, arms draping around Riri and Peter’s shoulders with Harley in front of them. Tony didn’t glance back, just kept them all moving.

He would have called it a smooth get away if it weren’t for the group of four men that broke off from a seemingly innocuous group of movie goers just a block over. They inconspicuously followed them through the streets towards the hardware store. Tony leaned down a bit so both Riri and Peter could hear him, “You two see those four guys following us?”

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Riri said, frowning.

“What guys?” And Peter immediately went to look.

Tony hooked a hand against his cheek and kept him from the movement, pulling him close and acting like he was roughing up his hair, “Don’t look, they think we haven’t noticed.”

Peter swallowed but nodded and Tony continued, “I need you both to listen carefully, when we get into this hardware store you loop Harley in and head towards the back of the store. If one of you can manage it, demand a manager. Tell them you are being followed by strange people and you need the police discretely.”

They nodded and Tony released them, making a show of pulling in Harley and talking about what they might make in bright and excited voices. Once in the store the kids took off, but Peter was using his nervousness to look overly excited while Riri had linked arms with Harley and was loudly chatting about the uses of drill bits as temporary screws in a pinch. The idea of that made him groan internally, but his focus was on the four men that came in after them. One broke off towards him as he went down an aisle of sized lumber and Tony murmured, “Jay, if the kids are in danger, tell me. Track them.”

“Already done, sir,” Jarvis replied, and Tony came to stop in from of the 16 ft lengths, the man stopped in front of the 8 ft lengths.

Tony looked up, smiling brightly and the man immediately looked on guard, “What lengths you looking for? What’s the project? I always like knowing what people are doing.”

He acted like he did this all the time, struck up conversation wherever. He often did so it wasn’t too much of a stretch, but normally a hardware shop where most came for home projects wasn’t it. The man stumbled, “Just had a bit of the house wall taken out in an accident. Need some new lumber,” he said quickly, clearly trying to decide if he wanted to play along or just go for Tony.

“Well, then the 6 and 8 foots are not where you want to look. You don’t just replace a part of the structural integrity of your house. That would make that wall…” he started listing the statistics of the wall falling if the full length of the lumber wasn’t replaced, which were actually minuscule and wouldn’t affect the structure at all if done right.

He could see the man waiting as Tony prattled on and when Tony turned to take him to the ‘correct’ lengths, he struck.

A hand came around with a wad of cloth that clearly smelt of chloroform. Tony’s eyes narrowed and he grabbed the wrist, mentally rolling his eyes at the fact that he was believed to be an easy take down, and snapped it was a precise twist. He heard them man manage to muffle a cry of surprised pain before Tony had ducked out of his hold and landed a punch square across his jaw. The man quickly regained himself and he tried to grab Tony and push him back against one of the racks. Tony hooked his foot in one of the man’s ankles and took out his balance. With a shift he reversed their positions so his attacker was against the rack and he felt the others gun at his hip. The man tried to buck Tony off, but he quickly used the movement to slam him back against the rack.

“Who the hell are you?” Tony asked, he needed information and Jarvis hadn’t said the kids were in danger yet.

“Fuck you,” the attacker snarled, and Tony had to duck away as the other managed to grab a length of lumber to swing at him.

Before he could react though, a head of dark hair darted around him and suddenly there was fire in the man’s face and he was screaming. Tony stared at Riri who was grinning like a mad woman, before grabbing the length of wood the attacker dropped. Once the flames stopped he nailed the attacker across the head. He looked up once the man was clearly not getting up and turned to Riri, and apparently Peter, and…Harley. He looked back at Riri in confusion.

She smiled, “We rigged an aisle, Peter played bait. We have them tied up in the back of the store. The manager knows how to tie people up, and I quote, ‘properly’.”

Tony took one more moment to stare then said, “Great, you’re all coming to the next workshop. Did you call the police?”

“Manager is, what about the conference?” Harley asked, “The security dude was… off.”

Tony turned serious then and said, “You let me worry about that, but you tell the police everything when they get here. I have to go back and see if Pepper and Happy are all right.”

“Alone?” Peter said, all frantic energy still.

“Yes, alone. You cannot get in the middle of this guys, you need to be safe. I need it, your parents need it, you got me?” He said, leaning down slightly in an attempt to convey this desperation.

They all reluctantly nodded, glancing between one another. Tony sighed in relief, “Good, good. Get back to the manager. Stay here and be safe,” and grabbed a few supplies before he ducked out of the store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ay yo~ some shit happening in this one! I had so much fun writing Tony and Pepper. The back and forth with them is some of my favorite. Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy and you're all beautiful!


	4. There's Always a Story There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hells Bells by AC/DC

Bruce sighed as he settled down on the couch of the S.H.I.E.L.D. compound, hunching over as he tried to settle his nerves after the flight. He was better with many things, but no matter how many times S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to find him and bring him reluctantly back to the Avengers, he always found an excuse to leave again. It wasn’t that he disliked any of them, but it all came down to the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was military in its own way, and he knew very well they were looking for any and all ways available to lock him down as their own weapon. When that hung over his head too long he couldn’t help bolting.

Then someone would find him, sometimes Natasha, other times Steve, most recently Bucky, and convince or coerce him into coming back. It was a vicious cycle but one that would always be in play until they got what they wanted, or he managed to find a place they couldn’t get to. Thor made it bit better, their friendship was odd and often filled with questions and sharing of information. Thor had even helped him reconnect with Betty. It was still tentative, and there were no guarantees of anything, but if nothing else they could be friends. In return, Bruce had been an open ear for Thor to talk about his confusion about his feeling for the Captain and for Jane. He and Jane had never been anything official, but the God had no desire to hurt her. Bruce would have to remember to ask the Asgardian what he had decided and if he had done anything about it yet. It’d been a few months, so hopefully he’d done something.

He was practicing his breathing and fiddling on his S.H.I.E.L.D. issued phone when the TV of the main room flicked on. He stared at it quizzically for a moment, but when it remained a blank, blue screen he reached for the remote to turn it back off. It shouldn’t come on by itself like that, but since it was just a blank screen it was probably a glitch.

He was about to turn it off when a video feed came on. It was of what looked like a presentation hall, holding about fifty people and it was immediately obvious that this was a hostage situation. Double guards at each door, more patrolling between groups of about ten to keep them from strategizing between a larger party, weapons on display and a group of people at the front that were restrained behind a row of guards. The footage zoomed in on one guard as they glowed.

AIM.

He shot up from his seat as the screen went black and words appeared. An address, a convention hall in Boston he’d been to a number of conferences at before the incident that gave him the Hulk, then just ‘[RMNNT]’.

He hoped someone knew who that was, because either they were baiting them, or they had just saved a lot of lives.

~~~/~~~/~~~

“You get the Avengers attention, Jay?” Tony asked as he peered around the service entrance to the lower level of the center.

He’d nicked a ball cap and hoodie, ditching most of his suit in favor of something less flashy and more functional. He hadn’t been able to grab much from the hardware store, but it was enough to make a few weapons once he could use once he got inside. It did mean avoiding guards and metal detectors, “I believe so sir, they are in motion. As for AIM, so far it appears a mixture of engineers and biochemists have been gathered, along with several other hostages that have been quarantined off.”

“Any sign of Pepper or Happy?” He asked, hopeful.

“Unfortunately, it seems that Ms. Potts has been taken hostage, though Friday is still looking for the whereabouts of Mr. Hogan,” Jarvis advised, clearing perturbed about this.

Tony cursed under his breath, eyes closing for a moment, “All right, I need everything you have, Jay. Avengers or not, I am _not_ letting her get hurt.”

“Absolutely, sir. All video feed is on loop for your trajectory, there are entrances less guarded where food is being taken in last minute from several trucks closest to you. If engagement is unavoidable, be careful of the ones without guns, they appear to be altered,” the AI explained.

“Altered how?” Tony frowned.

“They glow, from my data they would appear to be a part of AIM,” Jarvis said darkly.

It wasn’t that they had encountered AIM on their personal crusade. However, Stane did frequent business with them, especially after Killian was ousted and the organization was recognized as a terrorist group. The faux serum they were using was intensely unstable though. If they were rounding up world-renowned scientists of multiple fields at a public conference, it meant they were desperate. With the way the Avengers were chipping away at them it was a wonder they hadn’t restored to something like this earlier, “Is Killian with them?”

He’d met the man a handful of times and found he pushed boundaries that made Tony uncomfortable, so he’d generally avoided him. Though the odd occasion that Killian seemed to fixate on him as some kind of possible cohort had been unnerving at best. He’d mainly been focused on big investors though, so unless no one else was around Killian didn’t notice him. “I’m afraid so, sir. As is Maya Hansen,” Jarvis continued.

Now that name brought up some memories. Specifically, drunken antics in Bern, Switzerland. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the woman after he’d left her bed until he’d seen she was a part of AIM. Why were they here now though? Tony sighed as he lowered his cap, “Well, this is going to be pleasant,” he took a steadying breath, “All right Jay, get me inside.”

~~~/~~~/~~~

“It’s clear AIM is keeping things quiet as possible. They infiltrated the security team and as far as we can tell, have complete control of the building. The organizers of the event are aware of the situation and are currently trying to evacuate who they can, when they can, without tipping off the AIM agents or the general public. We don’t want a panic. So far everyone missing that we’ve managed to point out are leaders in their field and close associates. The only one that’s would make that list but is currently unaccounted for is Dr. Anthony Stark,” Coulson said as they flew in the quinjet towards Boston.

Bucky looked up, an eyebrow raised as he minimized his recognition. Steve spoke up next to him, “Howard’s kid? Why is he just unaccounted for?”

Their handler, Phil Coulson, sighed ever so slightly, his expressions minimal as usual, “From what we can find he left the hall with a group of three students. They were followed by several men who were set on kidnapping them back to the center. From what we can tell, both Stark and the kids ambushed the would-be kidnappers in a local hardware store after they tried to grab Stark and at least one of the students. The suspects have been detained and the students are currently in police custody, but they haven’t managed to get anything out of the suspects. Stark left after their attackers were secured so we are unsure of his current whereabouts.”

Bucky grinned, “Sounds resourceful,” and examined his mask to make sure it was fully functional.

A small knot of tension that had settled in his chest at the thought of Tony being held eased just enough for him to drop a bit deeper into his Winter Soldier persona. It was always a little disconcerting to feel the emotions drop away. It wasn’t a separate personality as the therapists had originally theorized, he was fully aware and knew what he was doing. It was more of a shift of his mindset. Perhaps at one point in time it had been a personality all its own, something that helped him survive in hell and that he’d slowly come to terms with. Now it served to help make the world a little bit better.

“Resourceful and determined. Do not be surprised if you find him on your way in,” Coulson added.

“You got history, sir?” Clint asked, adjusting his own mask.

“More or less,” was all their handler added before turning back to the cockpit where Natasha was flying.

It was him, Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Sam. Bruce had hung back, still wary about going on any missions, even ones he would just be observing. Sam was going to be on aerial recon to see if there was anything inbound or outbound. Everything else would be up to the four of them. “We’ll drop you off on the roof of a building just south of the center, you’ll need to get to street level and then enter through the loading docks on the southwest side,” Coulson said over his shoulder to them.

They all nodded in understanding and settled in for the last twenty minutes of the ride. When Bruce had sounded the alarm, they’d all been surprised that Natasha had immediately called Coulson, who had contacted Fury. Once they had the footage with the message Bruce had seen it had only taken seeing Fury’s reaction to the last screen of [RMNNT] to know they were going into immediate action. Bucky wasn’t sure if Fury was livid or exasperated, probably both though. The rest of the flight was spent strategizing and memorizing the layout of the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, which was huge and the area that AIM had taken over was on the third level, sectioned off to look like construction.

Once they hit Boston, Sam ducked out, dropping out of the quinjet and linking up with the nearby air towers so that they knew he was in the air. They each made sure their masks were secured while Coulson took the helm from Natasha. Once on the ground they made their way into the service entrances to get to the loading docks. It was mostly cleared out, with one of the organizers and a few security guards there. Bucky frowned as he watched the organizer fidget nervously, clearly uncomfortable. Bucky tilted his head to Natasha and Clint, a moment later Clint shook his head. Only the organizer was theirs.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had spent their time in transition sectioning out who was with AIM and who was the original staff. A lot of the security had been switched out about a week prior to the event, so picking them out wasn’t too hard. Natasha rolled out a small EMP that went off with a flash of electricity, dismantling their communications. Clint shot off an arrow between the organizer and one of the guards allowing her to race out of harm’s way and keep any of the guards from thinking about going for her. The next moment one of the guards was glowing and charging at them. Steve’s shield slammed into the guard’s chest, knocking her back while Bucky and Natasha dove at the others. Clint kept his distance as best he could, arrows flicking between them and at the enemy as they went.

Bucky and Natasha had the remaining guards down in moments, then it was Natasha that put a pipe through the Extremis soldier’s chest while she was held in place by Steve and Bucky. The woman went down without her heart. They regrouped once the organizer was sent the way of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives and made their way into the building.

What they found interesting was everything looked normal until they got to the staircase. Just before the landing of the first level they found scorch marks and a body of an Extremis Soldier impaled on one of the railing pieces that had broken off but was still attached to the wall. Clint stared at it, “Damn, I mean, how was this managed?”

Bucky examined the area around the man and picked up a small, crude device, “This maybe?”

Natasha took it, “This… is a very powerful EMP. Simple and dangerous because it has no housing to insulate it, but effective.”

“Who do you think could do this?” Steve asked.

In unison, Natasha and Clint said, “Stark.”

Bucky raised any eyebrow, “Stark?”

His mind went back to Tony’s explanation of just taking things apart and rebuilding them better for the fun of it. He had believed him completely, but the others couldn’t know he had history to share unless it was necessary, “Yes,” Natasha continued, “the man’s a genius, probably the smartest man alive. Creating something like this is child’s play. We’ll need to be careful if he’s decided to take matters into his own hands. Coulson wasn’t kidding about him.”

“I didn’t think he’d be willing to kill,” Clint said, expression contemplative.

“If Pepper or Happy is involved, I don’t doubt he would,” and she put a hand to her ear piece, “Coulson, we have evidence that Stark is in the building. No visual.”

“Understood,” came Coulson’s response.

“Will he recognize us as friends?” Steve asked as they continued up the stairs.

“Us, yes. Coulson, not as much,” she said with a shrug.

“There’s a story there,” Bucky called her out and she gave him a sidelong look that he returned with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe for another day. They have an interesting history,” she said, Clint snorting beside her.

~~~/~~~/~~~

“Sir,” Tony paused as he tried to navigate the third floor of the convention center, “I bring unfortunate news. It appears Mr. Hogan is unconscious a few blocks away. Ambulances have already been called.”

“Details, baby girl?” He snapped, eyes darting about for a patrol.

“It appears,” Friday started, Tony hearing the uncertainty in her voice as this was the first time she’d been involved with something that wasn’t mostly data analysis, “that after they exited the center they got about three blocks away to hail a taxi when they were jumped. Mr. Hogan was beaten heavily, and Ms. Potts was taken in the middle of it. Mr. Hogan was dragged away which was why we couldn’t find him immediately.”

“Dammit,” he murmured, “Thanks, keep an eye on him.”

“On it, boss.”

He ducked back into an empty room as he glanced three AIM guards patrolling, hoping they wouldn’t room check again. The top level of the convention center was supposed to be an admin area for the conference, but AIM had made itself at home instead. So far, he’d found several groups of people. It seemed as they’d gotten more people, they’d had to move things around and take over another one of the ballrooms. The first two of the ballrooms was where they had taken several of his colleagues and had them frantically working on something, the last was where a large group of people were restrained. Obviously, they were using that group as leverage, and that’d probably be where Pepper was.

He was about to try something drastic, peering out the crack of the door, when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to find Black Widow peeking out of the stairs, her mask-covered eyes making much of her expression unreadable. He shifted a bit, hoping she caught sight of it and her head immediately turned towards him. He quickly signaled, having learned military hand signals from Rhodes a long time ago, that there was three on her left and four down the hall. Her hand moved to her brow in the motion that she saw and ducked back. He shuffled away from the door quickly, listening. He heard a rotation pass by and then the hushed steps of several people moving to the room he was in.

Next thing he knew he had four avengers in the room with him. He looked over each of them quickly, though doing his best not to look at White Wolf too long because he wasn’t sure if he should find the man in full murder mode as terrifyingly sexy as he did. To keep from looking too hard at any of them, he started talking, “Wow, well, today just got even weirder. Here I thought I’d be dealing with police or SWAT. Nope, full on Avengers.”

“From what we understand, Aldrich Killian is here. We get brought in on anything with AIM involved,” Captain America pointed out.

“Ah, ok, well, good to know,” Tony said with a shrug. “Listen, they’ve got everyone in the ballrooms. I’ve managed to sneak around a bit, but only just. One of the patrols was talking about them needing everyone to perfect Extremis.”

“So, they’ll stop overheating and exploding,” Hawkeye narrowed his eyes at Tony, “Think they can do it?”

“Not without me they can’t,” he said, “Already figured it out years ago. Just didn’t have a reason to give Maya the solution outright. I gave her part of it, figured she’d get it. She didn’t, thus all the explosions.”

“Wait, you almost gave a terrorist—" Hawkeye started, and Tony focused on the archer as White Wolf’s, definitely White Wolf right now, blue eyes bore into him.

“At the time,” he spoke over Hakweye, “she was a young scientist with a formula that could help a lot of people. She was not involved with Kilian, hell, he was still on a cane. Now he’s waltzing around like it’s nothing. I don’t know how it all got turned around into glowing soldiers and explosions, but here we are,” he said before glowering at White Wolf in return.

His eyes were different now, something hollow and silent. Not the bright expressiveness of when he came to Tony’s workshop. It was unnerving, but in a way understandable and instantly fizzled the low hum of attraction. They were in a hostage situation, he needed to do his job. It didn’t make it any weirder to see though. Captain America stepped in, “Well, you’re going to need to get back out, we’ll handle it from here.”

Before Tony could protest, the PA system came on with a dull click, “Oh, Tony Tony Tony, my people tell me you’ve been keeping them entertained.”

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face as Killian spoke, “Fuck.”

“But, you see, if you don’t come out now, weapons down, I’ll be keeping someone close to you just as entertained,” Killian said, his voice low and threatening.

There was a short pause and then his breath stopped as he heard Pepper come on, “Tony…?” She said softly, frightened but there was an edge of hardness to her voice that helped him steal his nerves.

She took a breath as if to say more, but then Killian was on again instead, “You have two minutes,” and the PA cut.

Tony looked at them and he dared them to tell him to leave again. None of them did. Instead the Captain nodded, “Well, that answers that.”

Tony shrugged, “I’d be a good distraction.”

There was a tense pause and he could see them silently speaking between one another. It wasn’t easy to make out the details, but the consensus was. Widow was for it, Wolf and Hawk were not, Cap was on the fence. Widow seemed to make a compelling argument, and Tony was sure his stance was clear enough, so the others caved.

“All right, if we do this you remember that you are a civilian. Leave the hero part to us,” Captain America gave him a stern look.

Tony smiled, “Sure thing Cap.”

~~~/~~~/~~~

“What part of ‘Leave the hero part to us’ did you not understand!?” Bucky screamed as he held onto Tony’s belt while Tony held onto Pepper, who was dangling three stories above the ground from the blown-out wall of the convention center.

“Less berating, more lifting!” Tony screamed back, both hands locked around Pepper’s wrists.

Bucky growled and with a loud grunt he pulled first Tony, then Pepper, up and back into the building. Pepper immediately wrapped herself around Tony after they’d scrambled far enough away from the edge, gasping for breath with a small, desperate noise, “Oh god, oh god, that was—Tony you—I can’t believe…Oh god…” And buried her face into Tony’s shirt.

The plan was for Tony to go in and play distraction while Natasha, Steve, and Bucky took down the majority of the guards, specifically the human ones, then made a run at the others with the makeshift EMPs that Tony had. In the meantime, Clint would find a perch to get a good shot at Killian. Taking someone hostage had been expected, he had taken Pepper. The following standoff had ended in part of the wall of the convention center gone, Maya unconscious after she’d tried to knock Tony out, and Killian dead on the street, an EMP shoved in him by a combination of Pepper, Tony, and Steve that had hollowed out his chest. Bucky and Natasha had been keeping the last of the Extremis goons occupied with Clint taking his shots and Bucky had arrived just after Pepper had made the final kick to the EMP after Killian had knocked Steve and Tony away. Then he’d tried to drag her out of the building with him.

Tony had managed to catch her, but then Bucky had had to grab him to keep them both from falling. This man was suicidal, and so was Pepper apparently. Granted, all of the Avengers had a death wish in one way or another, so they fit right in. Didn’t stop his heart from hammering away in his chest as he watched Tony dive after Pepper and knowing that they’d die if he didn’t catch them. He was just thankful Tony got a hold on Pepper.

Pepper finally pulled back from Tony, taking deep breaths. She looked about to say something, but Tony started first, “So, when did you and Killian—”

She promptly smacked his arm, “It was one date, Tony. Don’t you dare start.”

“Oh, come on, he goes on about how you could have made it work and you aren’t going to let me in on the dating a terrorist bit?” Tony shot back.

Pepper closed her eyes in exasperation and pressed her forehead to his chest and he kissed her hair as she spoke, “It was a single date, let’s just say all of my dates since then have been vast improvements from that asshole.”

“They had better be, I’d hunt down anyone that treated you incorrectly—"

Her head snapped up, “Oh, you are not going all overprotective best friend-colleague-whatever! on me. Besides, if we’re bringing up my dating life, then what was that with Maya? Bern?”

“Hey, ten years ago, Pep, light of my life,” he said in mock defensiveness.

“And Killian was three years ago, so—"

“Oh, so he was already fully in terrorist town by then—"

“I had no idea he was at the time besides—"

“That doesn’t change that he was—"

“It doesn’t, but it doesn’t mean that my judgement is somehow impaired—"

“I never said your judgement was impaired, I simply want to point out that you can’t nag at me for Maya, who was not a terrorist when we slept—"

“I do not need to listen to your—"

“Do you guys always do this talk over each other thing?” Bucky finally cut in, raising an eyebrow at them.

“Yes,” they said in unison, making Bucky huff out a laugh at them.

“Come on, both of you need to get checked over for your injuries,” and jerked his head to where a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and police were working their way through the frazzled hostages.

Pepper took a deep, calming breath and nodded, squeezing Tony’s hand as they went. Tony followed her, but his and Bucky’s eyes met briefly, their unspoken agreement to keep their previous meetings a secret passing between them before he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AC/DC just works so perfect for writing BAMF!Tony. I just couldn't resist! Action is not my strong point in writing, but I'm working on it. Slowly but surely.


	5. Confrontations aren’t Easy for Either of Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strangers by Seven Lions, Myon, & Shane 54 (feat. Tove Lo)

In the end, Tony and Pepper were fine aside from a few bumps and bruises. Happy got the worst of it. He had a concussion, broken arm, and a cracked rib from the beating the four guys that came at him gave. They wanted him in the hospital over night, but Pepper and Tony were able to go back to the hotel room.

Tony sprawled out on the couch with Pepper on the loveseat, “Tony, can you promise me something?” She asked after they had finally settled in.

They had washed up and changed, then gotten room service because neither were in the mood for being out in the middle of a crowd again, “I can try, Pep,” he said from his spot, a pack of ice on his shoulder.

“Don’t ever risk yourself like that again,” she said after a considering pause.

Tony looked at her, eyes narrowed, and lips pressed thin, “Don’t ask me that. If it’s the difference between you and death? You know I’ll take that risk. Besides, you were the one that kicked Killian out of a building.”

“I know, I really do,” she said with a sigh. “The way you taunted Killian, how you turned yourself in and then seemed to not think on how I was right there, watching you put yourself in harm’s way… I know you had to, I know it was a double-edged sword. But, the idea of losing you scared the hell out of me. Promise you’ll remember we want you alive as much as you want us alive?” She sat up to look at her boss and best friend.

“Pep, I couldn’t survive losing any of you. You hold me together, don’t ask me to choose myself over any of you,” he said shakily.

He swallowed down the memory of what had already happened. What Stane had done. The memory of racing to the hospital, Stane waiting for him in the lobby with a grin and a friendly pat on his shoulder as he reminded him where he supposedly belonged. He would never see her there again, be it because of Stane or other forces, he wouldn’t. Pepper shook her head, “I just… I want to make sure you don’t forget yourself in the equation. We’re just as connected to you, Tones.”

She stood up, seeing the edge of tears in his eyes. She moved over to sit quietly on the couch beside him and opened her arms to him. He fell into them, pulling her close and pressing his face into her neck and shoulder. She hushed him, “You scared me, Tony.”

“You scared me too, Pep. This goes both ways,” he said, leaning his head on her shoulder.

Pepper nodded and kissed his hair, squeezing his hand. It may not change anything he did in his plans for Stane, but he would try to shift the equation for Pepper. He couldn’t guarantee anything though.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Natasha was careful as she observed the debriefing. All things considered, finally getting rid of Aldrich Killian and capturing Maya Hansen was worth the damages to the convention center in Boston. Now it was just a question of what the organization was planning to do with the information this had yielded them. She knew that either S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to glance over the topic of just how they had found out about the situation, or they were going to dive into it. Considering the Remnant had taken it upon himself to contact the Avenger's in a very direct manner, she was inclined to believe the latter. If S.H.I.E.L.D. could bring the Remnant in or get any further information on that particular ghost, they were going to. She glanced at Bruce, and she could see how he was frowning. Not the normal sad set of his features. Instead, it was the concentrated look of someone who would probably push the matter. He had been the one to get the message, after all.

He wasn’t as willing to rock the boat as others though. However, Steve was just as interested in who the Remnant was, and the possibility of a joint front between the two meant Fury would at least address the issue. Steve with a bit too much information was a force to be reckoned with, as he’d proven numerous times.

"There is one last thing that we need to cover at length," Fury stepped in as Coulson finished off a few last discussions with Clint.

"I'm sure you are all curious about the way that the situation about the convention center came to us. From a random clip of surveillance and a few words that we practically jumped to check on. That said, I know for a fact that Natasha has encountered this individual before and given us what the Red Room had on them. Sergeant, do you have any information?" As Fury brought up her information she sat up a little straighter, then glanced at Bucky.

"Yes," Bucky said a bit too easily, "they were a prime target for recruitment at first. Later, for reasons I was never told, they became a threat, and later still, a kill target if encountered," Bucky recalled, face blank as he recited the information.

Fury nodded and looked to Coulson. The signature that had appeared on the compound TV now appeared on the screen behind him, "This is their signature,” the agent began, “We call them the Remnant, a hacker that we've so far managed to do little more than skirt across their trails on occasion. They're meticulous, most of the time the only reason we know they’ve been somewhere or actively attacking is because they want us to. Of the encounters we are aware of, they’ve been mostly pleasant, so far as we know. They've even provided some essential information for missions, but for a handful they destroyed the mission. This also means they have accessed and monitored our files without our knowing."

"They destroyed the mission how?" Steve said, frowning.

“Made it go belly up,” Fury cut in. “The agents were spared but most everything they were trying to accomplish was destroyed. When they want something? They will tear things apart. For example, they’ve staged multiple attacks on Stane Industries and several other weapons manufacturers. Never anything that would compromise the weapons created or the workers, but information is free game. There's also been evidence of them having been through almost every major world power’s government infrastructure. An unknown element should not have that kind of information or access," Fury continued.

Steve nodded in understanding, "So, they had a vested interest in something at the convention center?"

"Or they’re a science nerd.” Coulson picked up as Fury sat back, “Either way, we know two things now. 1) They were watching or were at the convention, 2) they trust the Avenger's, if only in a professional manner. What we need from you is vigilance. We are looking into how they got into the compound, as well as the attendees, staff, any anomalies at the convention center, and any other way they could have possibly been connected, especially with those taken hostage. If you get even the slightest hint of information on this person; communication, shared info, or so on, we need to know. Immediately.”

The team nodded, and Coulson returned it, then a new slide with a sparse timeline appeared, "Good. As was said, we don't have a lot of information on them. The earliest occurrence of their signature is from 2002, though there is reasonable belief that they were present much earlier. Just from studying what information we have on their style, they could have been active as early as the mid-90s. We can't discern any affiliations, other than their targets are usually countries at war and their allies, or companies somehow involved. This is the first time they’ve ever acted outside of those guidelines. Until we hear more though, we continue to wait.”

Sounds of affirmation went around the room and Natasha glanced up at the signature that had moved to another screen. This hacker had been the reason one of her own missions for the Red Room had gone sideways so hard there was no salvaging it. Then they'd made one of her later missions with S.H.I.E.L.D. drastically easier only to find out later the information she’d gathered sold out a number of arms dealers in Africa along with the original objective. But they had just as quickly sabotaged another mission. The Remnant didn't seem to care who was running the info, as long as their own objectives were achieved. That was an advantage for the Remnant, but dangerous for S.H.I.E.L.D. If any of them did have contact, they could be tossed aside easily. They had to be careful.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Tony sprawled out on his couch, a new ice pack on his shoulder and eyes closed as he held the side of a cold beer bottle to his temple. Getting back to New York had taken more time than he’d liked, but between S.H.I.E.L.D., police, the student’s families, and rearranging his schedule for the disruption, it was necessary. He wasn’t about to let the families think their kids would come into harm’s way with him, especially not these kids. They were some of the youngest he’d ever considered. Hearing that they’d almost been in the middle of a hostage situation had made their families understandably unsettled and cautious.

In the end they’d said that they would still allow them to go to the workshop later that year, but Tony was probably going to need to up his security for them a bit. It was something he was already considering anyway. He’d talk to Happy when the man was no longer on leave for his injuries.

Happy and Pepper had been saints through everything. Happy had done whatever he could from the hospital bed while another from his company took his place with Tony and Pepper, making sure the replacement, Clint something or another – Barton – knew of the small quirks that came with them. He’d only been needed a few days, but the man had managed to prove a decent replacement. Though neither of them would ever admit it to Happy. Most of the time replacements went very badly in their case and considering how often Tony needed someone around to cover his back, Happy would never be out of a job.

The doorbell rang, and Tony frowned, “Jay?”

“It is White Wolf, sir. He was… hesitant to knock so I was not sure disturbing you with his presence would be necessary,” Jarvis admitted.

Tony shrugged it off, “Not a problem,” and got up with a wince, “also, I thought we agreed on Blue?”

“You agreed on Blue, sir. I have no need to call him such,” Jarvis said back primly, making Tony roll his eyes but still smile.

Tony held the icepack in place as he went downstairs and moved to the side door of the building. In all honesty, he hadn’t thought of Blue since he left with S.H.I.E.L.D. after cleanup had started. Tony had forced himself not to consider what this might mean for their strange arrangement and he wasn’t even sure what he wanted after this. Could it stay the same? Blue knew how capable he was in theory, but now he at least knew he was capable of quite a lot, even killing if it meant saving someone he loved.

He didn’t want to think about the deaths he caused, collaterals from missions he forced to fail on top of those that died at the convention center. They were necessary, but he still hated it. He looked up at Blue as he swung the door open, “Well, look who the cat dragged in.”

It was supposed to keep things light, funny, but the eyes that looked at him were just a bit different from before. They assessed him, judged his capability and compared it a measure that Tony had no knowledge of. Silence reigned for a moment before Tony sighed, “Just, get inside so we can talk.”

Blue nodded and slid in through the space that Tony stepped aside to make. Tony closed the door and wondered back into the workshop area, arms crossing defensively after setting the ice pack aside, though he leaned up against one of the metal tables to try and make himself seem relaxed, “So, what did good ol’ S.H.I.E.L.D. tell you about me?”

Blue tilted his head, “What they told me was that you’re capable and determined. My handler didn’t say anything beyond that. You proved it well enough during the events at the convention center.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed, “Then what has you looking at me almost like I’m a threat.”

Blue paused at that, coming up a bit short, “Not a threat. There’s history with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I’m curious. I know your background, I checked that much. Son of Howard Stark, after the divorce from Maria Carbonell you went with her to Italy for several years before being admitted to MIT shortly before Howard’s death. You’ve been a master of the many fields of engineering but took a shine to robotics and programming early on.” He paused, “Want me to go on?”

Blue had recited the information mechanically with Tony listening and checking off the normal list. When Blue paused, he snarked, “No, please, do. I love having my own history repeated back to me.”

The marksman sighed, “At least you’d know what I did have information on. I know your professional career, but beyond that I’ve got next to nothing but the bare bones. S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to want to keep it that way.”

Something flickered across Blue’s features, maybe annoyance or frustration, but it made a bit of the defensiveness that had built up in Tony loosen. He forced his arms down to his sides, resting them on the edge of the table, “S.H.I.E.L.D. has made propositions. They tried to corner me into accepting once, and I out maneuvered them. That’s about all there is to it.”

“No, it’s not,” Blue pressed, brow knit and eyes digging into him.

Tony took a moment to consider how much this man needed to know. How much he wanted him to know when he couldn’t even see his face. In one sense, this could be a trap, a very big, very elaborate trap, setup by the very organization they were discussing. In another, Blue may really want to know more about the organization he was serving under. He could really want to know the good, bad, and ugly bits and pieces. He might really want to get to know Tony. Could he really deny him the benefit of the doubt?

Finally, he sighed and sagged a bit, “After I was out of MIT and started freelancing, doing contract work and putting out my own inventions, S.H.I.E.L.D. came to me with a proposition. It was an offer of everything I could want. All the funding and man power I could possibly need to just create. They’d have some say in what I created, sure, but not enough to worry me. Only caveat? I didn’t own anything I created while employed by S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Blue grimaced, clearly understanding how that might sit with an inventor as Tony continued, “I turned it down, said I’d make my own way. They tried a few more times, tried to make the deal sweeter, tried to get me contracted for certain things. It’s just… it always came back to them owning it or it was all destructive. My dad did that his whole life and look where it got him?”

Blue moved quietly, leaning up against the table next to him, “Stabbed in the back.”

“And dead from drinking himself into the grave over it,” Tony added on for good measure, “I told them as much, then they tried… Apparently dad left a lot of stuff to them when he died. And there was a lot that was actually my mother’s that he won in the divorce. They tried to use it as leverage. To top it off, my mother found out and she wanted me to try, since even if I never cared for the man it was still at least some supposedly good piece of him left. I refused, it got ugly for a while.”

There was another thick pause before Blue let out a breath, “I’m sorry.”

Tony shrugged, “Shit happens.”

What more could he really say? At first, he’d been excited at the offer, then he’d read more, then Stane had happened. It all went downhill for a while until he managed to work his way around it and flew to Italy to argue his way through a truce with his mother. He shook off the thoughts, not wanting to consider his mother for the time being, “Now I’m here, and I like where here is.”

Blue gave him a long look, then his eyes crinkled, softening his expression a bit, “Thanks for telling me. I shouldn’t have been as demanding as I was but, after the convention center I didn’t want to risk what this,” he motioned between them, “might mean for you. I still don’t.”

“Yeah, I get it, but I knew when I took you in that first time that issues with S.H.I.E.L.D. could pop up again,” Tony paused, then looked at Blue, biting his lower lip before he asked, “If they found out, what would happen?”

Blue considered for a moment, “Nothing direct. What I am outside of the mask is complicated.”

“You don’t become a part of the Avengers by being a simple person, cyborg,” Tony pointed out, a grin tilting up his lips.

Blue just snorted, “I’d probably have a choice to make. So would you. Either we’d keep this rolling with S.H.I.E.L.D. in our peripheries, one or both of us cut it all off and go our separate ways, they step in the middle of it and cut it off, or I fess up and don’t give them a choice in the matter.”

Tony nodded, “I hate all of them. Not a damn one of them results in us just being left alone.”

“Yeah, same,” Blue confessed after a short pause, “I like just… this,” and he gestured around as if that was explanation enough.

And it was. For however short amount of time they’d had this, it was quiet, simple, and just was. Neither of them really questioned it much as Blue came more often. How did this continue though? With everything Tony was doing against Stane Industries he should stop this, cut it off and tell Blue not to come back because if Stane found out? He had no doubt Blue could take care of himself, but he shouldn’t have one more thing to worry about on top of everything with being an Avenger. That would put him in the worst position imaginable if Stane found out.

The marksman gave Tony this little spot of peace though. Not that Rhodes and Pepper, even Happy, didn’t in their own way. When they came to stay with him, even just for a few hours, it settled him more than he’d admit. It was hard to let that go every time, and this was no different. Finally, in some insane decision that Tony would probably come to regret later, he offered, “I have MacGyver and pizza upstairs? We can point out inaccuracies and better ways to build makeshift weapons and then maybe Star Trek?” They could keep it just as it was, ignore the issue a little while longer.

Blue looked taken back, but the offer was loud and clear. And with only a moment to think, he nodded, “As long as the pizza doesn’t have pineapples.”

Tony grinned, even if half of himself was completely enraged while the other half had relaxed the moment the other agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm late! Sorry about that, but life got the better of me. Should be back on track though!


	6. Some Ties Need Different Knots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home by Akihide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I do NOT know Italian. Any Italian used is just the product of me researching what I could. Please let me know if any of these translations/uses are incorrect.
> 
> Italic words are either Italian words/phrases or the translation into English. I wasn't about to butcher the language anymore than I probably already do.

“Anthony Edward Stark!” Tony’s mother’s voice ripped through the speakers and made him wince.

He always knew there was trouble when the middle name came out. When her voice pitched upward at ‘Stark’ the world was ending. And really, it was his own fault, he’d meant to call her when he first got to a phone, but then everything with the students, Happy, then Blue and he hadn’t wanted to worry her. He didn’t expect her to put together seeing something in the news and then his conference, though he really should have.

“ _Madre_ , I’m sorry, I meant to call you earlier, but everything was such a mess. I was pulled in seven different directions,” he tried to soothe her.

“Don’t you dare give me that, Anthony. I know what your mind is capable of, why didn’t you call me immediately? _Oddio!_ ” she snapped at him.

Tony scrubbed a hand over his face, “ _Madre_ , I promise I didn’t do this on purpose, I’m sorry.”

“Anthony, I found out from the news, of all places. I thought you might be dead! Do you realize what that did to me?” He could hear the tears in her voice and he closed his eyes at the thought of her crying over him again.

Without another thought he dropped into Italian, wanting to comfort her in the best way possible, _“Madre, I’m sorry. I truly am, I didn’t mean for you to find out that way. I—"_

“ _Zitto!_ ” She snapped suddenly, and he clicked his jaw shut to silence himself.

There was a long pause, then a deep breath, “Oh Anthony, I’m sorry. I just…” a deep, slightly shaky breath, “I’m frightened and angry. It’s always so hard to hear from you, to keep up with you when you call me so little, and to hear about the convention…” Another pause, “Please don’t do that again, _tesoro_.”

It put a lump in his throat, the way she talked about keeping up with him. It wasn’t a choice he made lightly, but the more space there was between him and her, the more space there was between her and Stane. He would not let her be collateral if he could help it. It hurt though. He wanted to call her about every invention, every contract, every achievement.

And he couldn’t. Not with Stane hanging over him like a death knell. No matter how much it hurt, he’d keep his distance, as much as he could without hurting her more than he had to, “I’ll say it as many times as you need, _madre_. I’m sorry, I promise not to do this again if I can help it.”

She sighed softly, “All right, Tony.” He could hear her gather herself before she spoke again, “I’m going to be in New York next week. Let’s have dinner.”

“Of course, _madre_. When? Rhodey will be in town soon, so you might be able to see him again,” And signaled for Jarvis to clear his calendar for whatever date and time she wanted.

“Oh, that would be wonderful to see him again. How was his latest deployment?” she said, her voice softening a bit more and making the knot in Tony’s chest loosen.

“Rough, but he says it was worth it. He was supposed to be in a bit earlier, but he got detained helping with some of the search and rescue teams,” he explained, having wished his best friend had been there to help at the convention center.

“Oh dear, well I have time throughout the week and would love to see him,” She said, and Tony smiled as she let the events at the convention center drop.

~~~/~~~/~~~

“Hey Buck, where you headin’?” Steve asked as a freshly showered and dressed Bucky headed for the exit of the compound.

“Wasn’t sure yet, wanna come with?” Bucky asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

They had just gotten back from their morning run about an hour ago and Steve had been lounging with his sketchbook for the last five minutes. Bucky had never invited him along when he went out exploring though, so he looked up in surprise, “Yeah, sure!” A grin spreading over his lips as he stood.

“We can take your bike? Maybe we can ride up to Bridgeport or New Haven? Haven’t been up there,” Bucky suggested.

Steve nodded, “Sounds fine to me. Got a route in mind?”

“Hell if I know. Pick a road an’ go,” And he pulled on his leather jacket and gloves, covering the metal hand.

“That what you been doin’?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.

He barely noticed it as their Brooklyn accents started taking over. It wasn’t as sharp or pronounced as it once was, both of them having been trained out of it for years. But when it was just the two of them it got worse and worse. Clint had made a point of recording them when they got into deep discussions, saying he was documenting it for the Smithsonian when they finally kicked it for real.

Steve was sure to grab his cell phone, the tech had a signal that almost never dropped and linked directly into S.H.I.E.L.D. same as Bucky’s. That way no matter how far out they got they could still be reached for an emergency.

In answer to his question, Bucky shrugged, “Sometimes, other times there are specific places I want to check out, see what’s different and… where my memories of them are. The therapist back in Wakanda had suggested when I got back to try and make a timeline, if only to organize my life.”

“Couldn’t that force you to…relive things?” Steve sad cautiously, frowning.

“It can, but it’s the pros and cons. I want to know, Stevie,” Bucky looked over at him, “It’s not pretty, it’s never pretty. What Shuri did for me put some distance between me and it, but it still sets me off. I avoided it, what did you think I was doing, sticking to you like glue?”

Steve sighed a little, “I just thought it was helpin’.”

“In some ways it does, others it doesn’t. It’s hard to explain,” he said, and moved into the elevator, leaning on the wall as it took them up to the garage level.

“I’m happy to listen, Buck. You know that,” Steve said, glancing at his best friend.

“I know, but I’ve tried to explain it before. We’ve talked about this a lot’a different ways,” Bucky sighed, dropping his head back against the wall of the elevator.

“Why does it have to be different?” Steve asked, “I get what you’re telling me, if you just need to say it again, that’s fine. Maybe you just need to hear it out loud for it to sink in a bit more? That’s fine too.”

Familiar blue eyes looked over at Steve he couldn’t help his smile widening as a bit of tension slipped out of Bucky, “Just feel like I’m a broken record. Same words fallin’ outta my mouth all the time.”

“You do,” Steve admitted, earning him a glare, “but like I said, that’s okay. I just want you to be comfortable, Buck.”

“Yeah, punk? What about your comfort?” Bucky raised an eyebrow at him, “Don’t make it all about me. We all have our issues, you included. Maybe I should start dragging you out with me now. Since I’ve been going out on my own it’s like you never leave. Reverse our positions just to get you outta this compound.”

“Aw, come on, it’s nothin’ like that. Sam gets me out, sometimes Nat does too,” Steve defended as the doors opened to the underground garage.

“Hah, Nat would take you out. She still lookin’ for a dame or fella to take you out on a proper date?” Bucky teased.

“Buck, don’t you dare start colluding with her!” He said with a roll of his eyes.

Bucky snorted, “The only thing I’ll collude with her on is getting you to fess up to his big, beefy, godness that’s comin’ back to earth soon,” his friend challenged.

Steve came up a bit short at that, biting his lower lip as he knew his face was quickly reddening, “He has Jane. I’m not going to step in-between that.”

Bucky sighed, shaking his head, “Not how Jane says it, but you keep giving yourself an excuse not to talk to him ‘bout it.”

“What?” Steve asked incredulously.

“You heard me. Natasha’s been busy. Since she can’t get you out with someone here on Earth, she figures she’ll put her energy into gettin’ the one you’re pinning after.” Bucky grinned as Steve turned redder, “So, she made some discrete inquiries. And Jane’s pretty damn oblivious when it comes to that stuff. She apparently tossed the information out with just the smallest prod. It got her assistant, Darcy, rolling on it all. I didn’t want any of the details, but I figure it’s enough for you to actually do something.”

Steve rolled his eyes in exasperation, “I swear, you two are going to be the death of me.”

“Nah, we’ll just help you get your man,” the other said cheekily as they reached Steve’s bike.

“I don’t need you two to do that, Buck,” Steve countered, pulling on his helmet.

“Well you certainly aren’t doing it! And your friends can only do so much. Christ, a hundred years old and you still hate gettin’ help for a date,” Bucky fired at him, then pulled on his own helmet and got on the bike.

Steve had added a small seat on the back for when he gave someone a ride. Mostly it was Bucky, but occasionally it was Natasha or a protesting Sam or Clint, but mostly it was for Bucky. The blond glared at the older, “Hundred and one and you still haven’t gotten your own bike.”

“Hey, I had one in the war, just haven’t needed one now. I didn’t think you’d want to risk being recognized on public transit right now though,” Bucky pointed out.

“And you haven’t been?” Steve looked at him curiously.

Bucky without his mask had been touted as a modern day S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to the Avengers with a slight resemblance to Captain America’s childhood friend to avoid the question of why he looked so much like him. No one paid him much mind, even when he was photographed with Steve during events and so on. Steve’s identity was the only one available to the general public, but even that was closely monitored and controlled. Bruce was known to the military, and Thor was just Thor, but he flitted off planet enough that it wasn’t a big deal. Steve still wore his mask to most events, if only to give him some measure of privacy. If they needed to, Bucky would go by James for a short time, if only to throw people off. But between the two of them, superior senses and all, they kept any would-be stalkers or paparazzi off of them.

Bucky snorted, “Everyone just thinks I’m a hipster look-alike or something. It’s weird, I barely even know what a hipster is, but apparently because half the time I clothes scavenge because I hate doin’ laundry, I’m a hipster.”

“Well, the look on Sam’s face when he found out you were wearing his pants was priceless,” Steve snorted at the memory.

“I think he and Clint are still trying to figure out how I fit in them in the first place without stretching them out.” Bucky commented as he clipped on his helmet and Steve settled onto the bike in front of him.

“Well I’m certainly not gonna ask. Now, Bridgeport first, then go on from there? I’m thinking coastal roads,” Steve suggested, turning the bike on and revving it.

“Lead on, Captain,” and they pulled out of the garage, helmets hiding their faces as they took to the roads.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Bucky leaned back against a tree as they looked out over the ocean. Steve had found a bench and had his sketchbook out, he was drawing the fishermen that were scattered across the walkway. It was good to see him drawing again. He’d stopped during the war and it’d always bothered Bucky. It was practical, he understood that, but it didn’t make it any less weird to see Steve without a sketchbook.

Now he was easing back into it while Bucky eased back into just living like a normal person. Well, as best he could as an Avenger. The closest to normal he had was when he wandered the city and, to a certain measure, their downtime at the compound, along with whatever time he could steal with Tony. Tony and he were in this odd holding pattern now. He would appear when he could, and Tony would do his best to make time for Bucky. Bucky tried to come when Tony wasn’t busy, Jarvis would usually give him an idea if he called, but at the very least Tony would work while Bucky watched or read something. Lately it’d been anything he could get his hands on about cars and motorcycles.

He sighed a little as he realized his thoughts had gone back to Tony. He was very torn about his feelings for the engineer. He was kind and accommodating, loyal to the point of detriment to himself, and fiercely protective of those he loved. The convention center had given Bucky a different side of Tony to think on and instead of it putting him off, it had drawn him in. He wanted to know more about him, wanted to see what else that incredible mind could do. He already knew Tony was a genius, he’d seen that mind at work, but seeing it in action was completely different.

It made Bucky do the opposite of everything he should be doing, which was pushing away. With what he’d done, with the mask still on? He couldn’t keep doing this to Tony. It was unfair.

“Damn, Buck. I haven’t seen you sigh like this since Annie turned you down before the draft,” Steve said from his bench.

Bucky offered a wane smile to the other super soldier, “Just thinkin’.”

“About what?” Steve pressed, obviously worried.

“A lot. I mean, there’s more out there than our day jobs. Sure, it takes a lot of the normality away from us, but still. It’s been nice gettin’ around yet it’s hard to relax into it and just interact with people,” Bucky said.

It wasn’t what was bothering him right now, but it was close enough. Steve slumped a little, “It’s the price we pay, Buck. I know you didn’t ask for this. I asked to fight, but not to be flung decades into the future…” He paused a moment, taking a breath, “Part of me wants to keep it all at a distance, because then it’s not as real. Another part wants to explore it all, but then I’ll remember how much we lost.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said quietly, looking out over the water again, “hell of a way to live.”

“I don’t know how else to approach it,” Steve said quietly.

They didn’t talk about what they lost much. Not about the Howlie’s, not about Rebecca, not even about Peggy who was still raw for both of them. Bucky’d only seen her once before she’d passed, and that’d been from a perch on the wall outside her window. He didn’t even get the chance to meet with her. Steve had seen it, seen how her mind had gone, twisted by a disease no one could fight. Bucky forced himself to clear his throat and try to push them somewhere that wasn’t such a dark pit for them, “I think we’re starting, me out on my own, you drawing again? It’s somethin’ Stevie.”

“Yeah, it’s something,” Steve offered him a small but hopeful smile before returning to his drawing.

~~~/~~~/~~~

It was a good road trip. They spent some time at a bar near the park they’d started off in and after that had ended up wandering around like they would in Brooklyn back before the war. It was nice to know they were still comfortable enough with one another to do that sort of thing. It felt good, like something settling just where it needed to, something Bucky couldn’t remember being gone. They’d just gotten back to the compound, Coulson raising an eyebrow at them and sparing Steve a small smile but saying nothing more as they headed for the common rooms.

What they found was not what they expected. Thor had apparently come back slightly earlier than expected and was now sitting between Natasha and Bruce, with Clint off to the side, cards in hand, poptarts distributed between them. Clint had been trying to get Thor to gamble for months now, but Thor was fairly resistant, citing many previous experiences with Loki that taught him better than to try. Natasha and Bruce seemed to have taken a different approach to get him to deal in. Bucky bit his lip because he knew it had to be poker, Steve sighed beside him, “Who finally managed to convince him?”

Bruce shrugged, “I figured it would be interesting to show at least one of our gambling games without too high of stakes.”

Bucky knew he was partially lying. Natasha probably convinced Bruce just to shut Clint up about it. But the archer then declined joining because he was a coward when it came to Natasha in a card game. Steve pulled off his jacket and gloves, “How’s it going, Thor?”

“Terrible. I fear I have lost much of my previous spoils,” he said with a sigh, leaning on Mjölnir beside him.

Bucky smiled, “Well, I have a suggestion.”

“Buck…” Steve started, knowing exactly what the man was going to say.

Thor seemed intrigued, eyes squinting, “What do you have in mind, Wolf?”

Bucky grinned wide, “Ever tried strip poker?”

Bruce groaned, Steve turned a dark red, Clint bit his lip against a gleeful exclamation, and Natasha grinned like a cheshire cat

~~~/~~~/~~~

Sam leaned back against the elevator as it descended into the compound. He’d spent the day in talks with the US Air Force, discussing improvements and changes to their pick up and rescue operations. S.H.I.E.L.D. had negotiated a contract where he would regularly consult with operations to improve and educate their forces. Sometimes he was going over existing operations and looking for improvements. Other times, like this time, he was discussing the improvements with other parts of the military. This time he’d been talking to Colonel James Rhodes about his team’s last op. It’d ended badly, and he wanted the Colonel’s view point on the pickup to improve it for similar situations. The man has been professional and straight forward. He had no qualms telling everyone there exactly how it’d been botched.

It was refreshing to deal with the military again. He loved being a part of the Avenger’s, but that was a completely different kind of complicated in comparison to the military and the change was good for him.

Sam loosened his tie as he stepped off the elevator but stopped in his tracks. This was not what he had wanted to come back to.

Thor, Bruce, and Steve all sat to one side, naked. Thor was completely unabashed, sitting with his legs open and leaning over with his elbows on his knees as he watched Natasha and Bucky. Bruce was shy, though not really embarrassed it seemed, leaning over with his legs crossed and his hands folded over his lap modestly. Steve was bright red, legs crossed, back straight and pointed not looking at anyone.

Natasha was in a bra and pants, cards in one hand as she considered an equally shirtless and relaxed Bucky. Sam stared, jaw opened, eyes wide in disbelief, “D-did…”

Steve cleared his throat, “If it helps any, it wasn’t my idea.”

That shook his out of his stupor, “’Not your idea’? Steve, after the ceiling fan incident, all forms of strip-whatever were banned!”

“That was before Bucky—"

“I don’t _care!_ ” Sam cut in, “I needed brain bleach after that night. Hell, I still can’t get the visual of Clint swinging from the fucking fan, naked as the day he was born, out of my head. Now I can add Thor in all his naked glory to- oh God, Thor! Sit down!” Sam said, looking away and holding up his hands as if to shield himself.

“If my nakedness is that glorious, I thought it best to show it off well!” Thor said, fist on hips and standing proudly.

Now Bruce was blushing, his folded hands shifting, and Steve had covered his face with his hands with the tiniest of whimpers. Bucky chuckled as Natasha admired the view. Sam just groaned, “How in the hell did you let yourself get talked into strip poker with the two Russian spies?”

“Bucky is…convincing,” was all Steve admitted, voice still muffled by his hands over his face.

Clint chose that moment to appear, “Don’t worry, I have most of it on film for your viewing pleasure.”

“Clint, I do not need that in my life. In fact, I need it about as much in my life as I need you naked on the ceiling fan again,” Sam ground out as he purposefully kept his back to the now flexing Thor, though if he was showing off for Natasha or Steve, Sam wasn’t sure. Poor Steve had had to reposition his legs and, after a desperate look to Natasha, she had nodded her assent for him to grab a nearby pillow. Poor guy.

Clint laughed, “Aw come on, man! That was the highlight of the evening! Plus, this is new territory. I know better than to do strip anything with Natasha. She’s done a hell of a lot more than just get me to hang naked from a ceiling fan. Bucky though? It’s like watching an intense soccer match. One moment you think Nat’s got him cornered. Then suddenly, BAM! He nails her with a flush. I wanna see who gets who’s pants first.”

Sam couldn’t help considering it as his eyes narrowed at Clint, “You make a good argument… My bets on Natasha.”

“Awesome, Steve did the same, but I’m on Bucky, so are Bruce and Thor,” Clint said with a wide grin.

In the end, Natasha got Bucky’s pants and underwear first, but he got her bra with the stipulation that he wear it as a hat. He shrugged and did so. How had it become Sam’s life that he was sitting in the middle of the Avenger’s common room, drinking beers while most of them were still naked (Natasha wouldn’t let them put their clothes on, she wanted to keep ‘enjoying the view’) with the Winter Soldier wearing a bra for a hat?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, look, it's Tony's mother, more on that... later... in a couple chapters. Haha. *hides*
> 
> Also, I specifically tried to show how Steve and Bucky's Brooklyn accents come out more when they're alone together. I'm not sure if that came off correctly, but I tried!
> 
> The last scene was just me needing to write some crack and pull Sam back into the fold of the story. Poor guy is subjected to some shit being the only normal human being in the group (Nat and Clint don't count. Spies.)
> 
> In regards to future updates: The holidays are coming!! Panic! Everybody panic!!
> 
> All joking aside, the Holidays are normally pretty insane for me, so I will do my best to keep the updates rolling, but expect nothing on time. Like this update right here :D *headdesk*


	7. The Past is Never Buried, and the Future isn’t Clear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little Light of Love by Eric Serra (Fifth Element Soundtrack)

Pepper looked up from the numbers she’d just run of Tony’s latest contract. Millions of dollars for one man to come in and overhaul an entire interface and energy distribution in a matter of weeks, and he’d probably saved them far more than they’d paid him. It was small-time compared to his ongoing work with Helen Cho on the Cradle, but that was not her current agenda. She smiled at the man in a pristine black suit that she’d been waiting for arrived, “Phil, it’s good to see you.”

Phil Coulson stepped into her upscale Manhattan office and smiled warmly at her, “Good morning, Ms. Potts. It’s good to see you as well,” and settled easily into the chair across from her.

She folded her hand in front of her, “How are you? How’s the… was it a Cellist? In Portland?”

“She’s doing well, thank you. We’ve been dealing with a bit of hardship with my job, but we’re working through it,” he explained, engaging in the small talk, “How are you? Doing well after the convention?”

“Yes, that was quite the scare. I trust S.H.I.E.L.D. has that all back under control?” She asked, taking a moment to enjoy the man’s company before it had to get complicated.

“Absolutely. We’ve started the process of finding anyone that may have tried to take over AIM after Killian’s death, but so far things have been quiet,” he said, professional as ever.

“Excellent, now,” she steeled herself, “I understand you have an offer for Tony?”

“We do,” he confirmed, “It’s very different from the last, so I am hoping he will consider it.”

“You realize with how things went down last time he will be difficult,” she said bluntly, “You nearly cost him more than you or Fury will admit to.”

“Bringing his mother into the equation was a miscalculation we will not repeat, Ms. Potts,” he offered with that same calm smile.

“I hope the new calculation takes honesty, integrity, and proprietary ownership into account,” she returned, hands folding before her as she returned the same calm smile.

Coulson nodded slightly before leaning down and picked up the briefcase he had brought with him. He set it down on his lap and popped it open. He pulled out a stack of papers and set it on her desk for her, “I believe it has all been accounted for. We have no desire for a repeat of mistakes.”

Pepper watched him a moment and then looked at the stack. She took it with an air of caution before looking back to Coulson with narrowed eyes, “What is it this time, Coulson? Last time you wanted a tech head that would be yours to own. Organizations like yours don’t change your tune so easily.”

“The previous attempts at contractual dealings were made before certain experiences forced the organization to rethink how it deals with specific relationships and matters of public relations,” Coulson said smoothly.

The last bit is what tipped her off and she sat back, “You want him to work with the Avengers.”

“We have found it very… difficult to find individuals that can handle the more technical aspects of the Avengers. Be them mission based or otherwise,” and it looked like it almost physically pained him to admit that.

“So, you want the man that’s revolutionizing the tech industry, one contract at a time, to be their main man. I’ll tell you now, Phil,” she dropped in his first name to keep it as light as possible, but she couldn’t help the edge in her voice, “he’s a very sought-after man. If this isn’t a phenomenal proposal, he won’t even consider it. As it is, your history mars any good footing you may want to gain. I hope you’re prepared for that.”

“We have prepared as best we can. However, I hope you and Mr. Stark remember that these individuals are saving the world on a regular basis,” Coulson pointed out.

“And I hope you and S.H.I.E.L.D. remember that you making them a complete enigma to the world only promotes the distrust and complexity that you’ve gotten yourselves into,” she said with a wide smile as she pulled the contract in front of her, “I’ll contact you once I’ve read this over to see if it’s something Dr. Stark would even consider.”

“Thank you, Ms. Potts,” Coulson said as he stood, taking the dismissal for what it was.

“Thank you, Phil,” she said as he left.

Once he was gone Pepper dropped back in her seat and glared at the contract. If even one word was out of line she would shred the contract herself before it ever even reached Tony.

~~~/~~~/~~~

Bucky leaned against the edge of the rooftop, looking over at the side of Tony’s building from one of the neighboring buildings. Four stories tall, the bottom for the student workshop and a garage, second for his apartment, third floor was his own lab that had a stairwell with direct access to the garage, with the fourth being a mixture of business, entertainment, and roof balcony. He was watching it because however much Tony was willing to ignore the issue of secrecy between them, Bucky couldn’t, and maybe by looking at a distance it could give him some perspective.

It was a stupid idea and he was getting nowhere with it at all.

He sighed, slumping forward slightly. They’d been going on like it was nothing that Bucky was in a mask and Tony had to hide him for weeks now. They needed to make a decision soon, because continuing like this wasn’t healthy for either of them. There was no doubt they’d treat each other differently, and he was both hopeful and terrified. Either the feelings that he was slowly growing for the man would be validated, or he would be turned down and he would have to push past them. 

They were friends, and the numerous hints of something else were quelled quickly by the reminder of what Bucky was and their situation. Yet still Tony continued to accept him as he was. He didn’t try to push Bucky to show who was behind the mask like most people would. Hell, the man had even made a mask that would allow him to be more comfortable while keeping the damn thing on around him. He upgraded and customized things Bucky brought for him with an almost child-like glee, then ranted about science, and even if most of it went over Bucky’s head, Tony still tried to make it seem accessible. And it never felt like he was talking down at him, Tony was adjusting himself to make absolutely sure Bucky could learn if he had the interest. He didn’t force Bucky to try and keep up. There was no ‘or else’ hidden in anything. If Bucky showed interest, Tony was ready to explore it with him. Even if he already knew everything about it.

Tony did it in his classes too. There were plenty of people that had written about them and made videos, even some of the students had managed to get their own videos and post them online. It was easy enough to research and compare. The man was ruthless when he expected you to know what you were doing, then endlessly patient when you were learning. Though his disappointment was quiet and sharp as a new scalpel blade. 

The assassin sighed again because he knew his thoughts were getting away from him. He looked down at the mask in his hand while the other tangled into his hair. Tony had promised that they’d start working on the ’66 Shelby Cobra today. He wanted to deck it out, make it ‘the next Bond car’, and teach Bucky how to pull apart a car and piece it back together in the process. HYDRA had taught him how to drive or pilot all sorts of things, even how to hotwire them, but never how they worked beyond the necessary. 

He chewed his lower lip for a moment, then slowly slipped on the mask and pulled his hat low. He’d get Tony to talk to him about it, he needed to. 

Once Bucky’d made up his mind he moved back to the street level and came up to the side door. Tony had since given him the code to the door, even Bucky hadn’t noticed the slit on the side, tucked behind the framing, that pulled out a small keypad for him to open the door with. He quickly stepped inside and asked, “Jarvis, where is Tony? Can you let him know I’m here?”

Tony was always advancing the AI’s abilities, it’s understanding. Bucky left all that to Tony though, he was just happy Jarvis could tell him where the engineer was. “Of course. He is in his lab, White Wolf,” came the stilted voice.

Bucky nodded and moved to the stairs, jogging up them to the lab. There was a long wall of glass that could be blacked out and Bucky walked along it to the door, knocking. 

He’d never been in the lab, only seen it in passing. He didn’t expect Tony to let him in, just to take him down to the garage. Tony was examining a holographic display of something circular, notes and designs littering the display he looked up from. His hair was in disarray and he had on a t-shirt and jeans that were covered in stains. As he looked up, he smiled at Bucky brightly. 

That bright acceptance made Bucky smile back instantly. God, he was a sap. He swallowed it down as the door swung open and Tony grabbed his arm, the metal one, without flinching, “Blue, wasn’t expecting you back for a while. You ready to start on the Shelby?”

Bucky stumbled into the lab a bit as Tony pulled at his arm, eyes wide as he glanced around, “Um, yeah… is it really ok I’m in here?”

Tony had never said he couldn’t be in his lab, but it felt like he shouldn’t, like this was a private space of Tony’s. And with all Bucky’s secrets, for Tony to let him in here… It made him want to just lay it all out in front on him more. Tony waved off the tension, “I pulled you in, you’re fine.”

He stepped away from him, leaving Bucky to fidget awkwardly, and began to meticulously save and shut down the holograph. Bucky waited as patiently as he could before he glanced to his right and noticed a large, robotic arm twisting its metal clamp at him in what could only be a quizzical manner. Bucky turned more towards it and the base shifted, definitely a bit more to this one. The arm extended out toward Bucky a moment later, seemingly inviting as a series of excited beeps and trills came from it. 

“DUM-E, come on, buddy!” Tony said from where he had just finished shutting down.

The engineer sighed, “Sorry, he gets excited about new people in the lab.”

“Excited? You manage that sentience that you have been trying to get with Jarvis?” Bucky asked, surprised.

“Kind of? He’s like a puppy really. The bots: DUM-E, U, and Butterfingers, all have some level of self-awareness, but it’s about all I’ve been able to manage,” Tony explained.

DUM-E gave a disappointed whine and Tony immediately went to pat him gently, “Now don’t start that, buddy. None of you are disappointments. You’re all still some of my best creations.”

That seemed to perk him up and DUM-E rolled forward a bit, holding out his clawed hand to Bucky. Bucky, still a bit dumbfounded, rolled with it and took the clawed hand, “Nice to meet you, DUM-E.”

DUM-E beeped happily in return, making Bucky laugh and smile. Tony was grinning away next to him. When it was clear that DUM-E wasn’t letting go of Bucky though, Tony immediately berated the bot for being awkward and Bucky’s hand was released, though he was still smiling wide. Tony got DUM-E to shuffle back to his charge station and then the engineer was beckoning him through the lab. Tony pointed out Butterfingers and U, both at their stations, and Bucky waved to the two bots, who returned the gesture. Then they were moving down the stairs at the back of the lab and quickly descending into the garage below. 

As the stairs opened into the garage, Bucky paused to appreciate the perfectly good ’66 Shelby Cobra, about to be dismantled and reimagined in whatever Tony had planned. He looked to Tony, “Where do we start?”

Tony grinned eagerly at the question, “Blue, you know all the ways to my heart. We’ll start under her hood.”

~~~/~~~/~~~

Four hours later and Bucky still hadn’t figured out how to talk to Tony about steps towards revealing himself to the other. About beating the fallout to the punch. Or at least mitigating it. He had thought getting into pulling apart the car would create opportunities to bring up the conversation. Instead, Bucky kept falling into the mechanics of everything. He was now sitting in the middle of the hollowed-out engine compartment, hands covered in grease and grime, pulling out individual nuts and bolts and carefully cataloguing everything so nothing was misplaced. 

It felt _good_ to work with his hands like this. It felt like he was moving to something better, something more than what he was. And over the last few hours he was afraid of bringing anything up that could spoil it. He was a damn coward, but could anyone really blame him? Probably, but he chose to ignore that.

Tony and he had propped up the car on hydraulics and were raising and lowering it as needed. Tony had the last of the back tires off and was testing the fit of some of the new bearings he was trying out. By his grumbling he didn’t like what he was seeing and would need to replace the entire axel. Annoying, but just one more thing to add to the growing list of changes and updates Tony wanted to make. 

Pulling out the last few pieces, Bucky ducked out from under the car and moved to where they were laying out the parts. He was sure the engineer would have been through all this much faster if he hadn’t been teaching Bucky along the way. But he learned fast, and soon Tony was directing him less and less. He may not have all the names yet, but he was fitting it all together on his own more easily. 

Tony stepped up beside him, mumbling about sizes and materials, “You gonna be at this all night?” Bucky asked.

Tony looked up and shook his head, “Not on the Shelby, maybe on the Aston Martin, but I figured we keep the Shelby between us.”

Bucky’s breath caught a bit at the hope in Tony’s eyes and he couldn’t help looking away. Tony immediately knew something was off, “Ah, shit, look, sorry if I came on strong-“

“Tony,” Bucky cut in and made himself look at Tony again, “do you want this to be something?”

Tony paused and this time it was his turn to look away, “Not if you don’t want it to be. I mean… fuck it’s stupid, isn’t it? I don’t even know your real name and I’m wooing you with cars and movies.”

“For what it’s worth, it’s working,” Bucky said, letting his eyes crinkle in a smile.

Tony looked back in surprise, then looked down, “Well… That’s good to know.”

“Yeah. Just…” He turned to Tony fully now, stepping out from the car so he could better face him, “I want to, but that means we have to have plans to do something about it. To change it. I don’t want to always have to hide from you, and I have a lot of baggage.”

“We both have a lot of baggage,” Tony said as he hesitated. “It’s a terrible idea. It’s started all wrong, but I can’t say ‘no’ to trying. I don’t want to. I want to say yes.”

Conflict rolled over Tony’s face and Bucky was sure his was the same way. This was one of the stupidest ideas he’d ever had, but in a quiet voice he asked, “Close your eyes for me?”

Tony looked up, skeptical, but did so. If Bucky’s hands weren’t covered in oil and grime he’d probably have covered the engineer’s eyes, but instead he had to trust that Tony wouldn’t open his eyes. Bucky took a deep breath and reached up, a small hiss signaled the mask was released and he pulled it down, watching as Tony’s breath hitched and he closed his eyes tighter, as if to remind himself that they had to stay shut. Bucky leaned in, uncertain and afraid that he was making a massive mistake but forced himself to press forward. 

It was a chaste kiss at first, nothing to write home about. That didn’t last long though, as Tony pressed forward until Bucky had his hips against the worktable behind him and Tony boxing him in. The engineer kept his eyes closed, but let his hands find Bucky’s hips. A moan left him as Tony pressed them flush together and the kiss turned filthier by the moment. The only reason Bucky finally pulled back was because he wanted to do so much more, but it wasn’t fair when Tony couldn’t even open his eyes. Tony leaned forward in a small chase before letting him go and Bucky fitted the mask in place quickly, giving confirmation to Tony that he could open his eyes. Those brown eyes snapped open and focused on Bucky. The marksman ducked his head a bit and Tony groaned, forcing himself to push back from Bucky, “You’re a damn tease, Big Blue. I swear to god, next time I’m going to make sure we have anything and everything we need for at least a make out session on the couch, understood?”

Bucky tossed his head back and laughed. Tony grinned widely and let his hands briefly squeeze the other’s hips. The move prompted Bucky’s hands to fall over Tony’s, not to move them but to hold him in place, thumbs gently rubbing the inside of his wrists. “We’ll take it one step at a time, all right? Next time… Next time I’ll tell a bit about my baggage?”

Tony seemed to swallow thickly and nod, “And I’ll tell you—”

He stopped as Jarvis interrupted them, “Incoming call from, Ms. Potts.”

Tony deflated with a sigh, “I’ve actually been expecting that call. She might murder me if I don’t pick up.”

“I’m not going anywhere, we can talk more when you’re done,” Bucky offered, and Tony nodded in agreement.

Bucky slipped away with a quick squeeze of the engineer’s hands. Tony watched him go as he said, “Accept. Hey Pep!”

"Good afternoon, Tony," came Pepper's voice, calm as ever, though a smile could be heard in it.

"What do you have for me? You made it sound like this would be an interesting one," Tony asked, looking over the parts.

Bucky went back to the Shelby, knowing Tony would leave or kick him out if the information turned proprietary. Pepper paused, something uncharacteristic of her, before saying, "You probably won't actually like this, Tony."

Bucky frown as he paused, looking to Tony in case he needed to leave, but Tony wasn't looking at him. Instead he had his head tilted as he said, "Just give it to me, Pepper. Rip off the band-aid."

Another pause, then, "I have a proposal from S.H.I.E.L.D."

Tony went still and tense instantly. Bucky pulled away from the car and silently stepped up beside him, standing in the engineer’s peripheries and waiting for a cue. Tony glanced at him but instead of telling him to leave he stepped closer. Bucky set an arm around his waist, hand resting on his hip. "What do they want?" Tony finally asked.

"They want you for the Avenger's exclusively," another pause, "The contract's good this time, Tony. They've either learned or they’re desperate."

"Pepper, you know what happened last time, how can I trust them?" Tony asked, obviously torn.

He glanced at Bucky, uncertain but Bucky shook his head. He got it, though S.H.I.E.L.D. had been good to him they hadn’t been good to Tony. He wasn’t going to begrudge him his opinions. "I know, Tony,” Pepper continued, “I know. All I'm asking is that you look it over. I've made it clear that they screwed up badly enough that there could be nothing that gets you to work for them. I've marked areas for improvement and some minor ownership issues as well as time and teaching agreements, but outside that, I think it has merit this time."

Tony considered for a moment, "All right, send it over. I'll... I'll call you back when I've been over it."

"All right, we'll setup a time to discuss it in person then," she said firmly.

Tony sighed, "Okay, thanks Pepper."

There was a long silence as the call ended and they simply stood there, even as the ping for the email arriving sounded. A slow breath and Tony asked, "You didn't...?"

"No, absolutely not. Don't..." Bucky trailed off, not sure if he should let go of the other or pull him closer.

It hurt, but it wasn’t a farfetched idea. There was every chance S.H.I.E.L.D. knew he had been coming here and was using Bucky as a way to get to Tony, "I swear, I didn't tell them and if they know, they haven't told me."

There was another long pause as Tony seemed to decide if he wanted to believe him or not, before he finally leaned against Bucky, "Sorry, I couldn't keep from asking."

"It's fine, doll. I get it. I'm still in a mask here. But I swear I'm not lying," he emphasized, wrapping his other arm around him.

Tony nodded, "All right."

Bucky let his head fall onto Tony's shoulder, taking a shaky breath as he felt how it all tipped and rebalanced precariously between them, "Do you want me to leave?"

"No," and Tony took a deep breath, "Go up to the apartment and clean up. I'll be up, I just need a few moments."

"All right," and Bucky let him go reluctantly and moved to the stairs. 

He cleaned up slowly, mindful to get as much grease off himself as possible before changing his shirt and jeans and dropping on the couch to wait. It was a good twenty minutes before Tony came up and dropped down next to him. He had cleaned up a bit as well, mostly just got his hands clean enough to not get grease on everything he touched. He put a thin stand on the coffee table and with a few movements of his hands, a holoscreen appeared and expanded to the size of the document on the screen, "What're you doing, Tony?" Bucky asked as he watched.

The engineer looked at him, a determined expression on his face, "If I'm going to even consider it, we're going through it together to see what they have up their sleeves. I know you work for them, but I still can't trust them."

Bucky hesitated, then nodded, "Fair enough."

A curt nod from Tony and then they were neck deep in legal jargon that made Bucky want to punch things. Tony was worth it though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fwee~ not much to add this time :D Hope you all enjoy! An if you're in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!


	8. Every Job has its Downside, Some Worse than Others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fragments by Olivier Deriviere (feat. Philharmonia Orchestra) (Remember Me Soundtrack)

Bucky kept his face impassive as he moved through the compound, a mixture of pent up frustrations keeping his shoulders tense as he went for the gym, one of the few places he could let off some steam. He had spent several days buried in legal papers with Tony. How words could be so complicated and mired in double meanings he would never know, and if he could avoid ever dealing with legal papers again he would. However, when the topic of how he had handled his own contracts came up the look on Tony’s face when he said he didn’t really have a contract was telling. Tony looked like he wanted to walk into the main building and demand a contract be drawn up for Bucky immediately. He explained as best he could that when he’d been brought in (yes, Tony caught onto the wording of that), he wasn’t really in a place to negotiate anything, and when he finally had been, he had ended up jumping in head first before he could even consider contracts. Later, He hadn’t thought it necessary, plus being a free agent had its advantages that he made sure to exploit regularly.

_“You’re military, right? Or at least ex-military,” Tony had argued._

_Bucky supposed guessing he was ex-military wasn’t that much of a stretch, “Yes, and yes, I did paperwork for that. But it wasn’t this complicated. It was…necessary.”_

Tony had frowned, trying to figure it out, but Bucky had managed to convince him that he’d look into it and then changed the subject. There was no way he could explain being drafted for World War II without spilling everything. So, they would go over the contract for a few hours before working on the Shelby afterwards until one of them had other commitments. In a way it was a test for Bucky. Did he really want to get in the middle of all this with Tony? Did he want to deal with the possible fallout of them?

He did. Because despite all the misgivings and complications, he kept coming back. 

He had hoped that if Tony chose to join the Avengers, it would make things easier. He could reveal who he was to Tony without repercussions from S.H.I.E.L.D. or anyone else. That was squashed when they got to the ‘Identity Clause’. Aside from the identity of Steve Rogers, Thor, and Bruce Banner, Tony would have no immediate access to himself, Clint, Sam, or Natasha’s identities unless necessity deemed otherwise before the first three months were up. Even then though, it was rather open ended if he actually got the information. Tony was throwing it back in their faces, arguing that it would be necessary for him to know the other Avengers if he was going to be their support. The fact of the matter was that even most of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t know who the four of them were either. The rotating support for them didn’t know exactly who was behind the masks and medical was down to a very, very select few who could treat them.

They were a well-kept secret, strangely enough, so Tony’s arguments would probably fall short in Fury’s eyes. The problem was that it was the major hang up Tony had. If they couldn’t trust him with that, then why should he trust them to keep their end of the contract? And their legal team was more robust than his, even if he could hire some of the best lawyers there was to fight the battle. It’d be long and drawn out.

Bucky expertly wrapped his hands as he entered the gym. He needed the stress relief, not wanting the others to notice how much everything that was happening with Tony agitated him, made him want to call S.H.I.E.L.D. out. He moved up to the punching bag and landed a few quick hits to warm up a bit. Granted, Tony said the overall contract was good. It didn’t try to take any of his creative freedom away, nor the rights to his creations. It did have a time clause in it, that new inventions made for S.H.I.E.L.D. use could not be used outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. for at least two years. Which was reasonable when you were dealing with a constant tech race with enemy nations. 

They were even willing to give all the personal items that Howard had left to S.H.I.E.L.D. back to Tony and his mother. That was playing hugely into Tony agreeing, but the Identity Clause needed to be worked out. Tony’d sent it off to S.H.I.E.L.D. last night and Bucky had come back to the compound late this last time, before just wandering the living quarters for a long time in hopes of calming down his racing mind, but eventually it had led him to the gym. Bucky let his punches to the bag pick up, hitting harder and faster. He had some exercises that the therapist in Wakanda had taught him, things to re-center himself against the tirade of his thoughts falling over themselves. 

Just as he was getting into it though, the compound alarm went off and he cursed. They’d been having such a good streak of quiet, no alarm worthy issues. Seemed that’d run out.

~~~/~~~/~~~

An hour later he was trailing behind Steve and Natasha as they infiltrated the One World Trade Center that had been taken over by magic users looking for a few billion dollars. Clint was on a rooftop adjacent from the building, looking for a shot, while Sam was circling the building widely. Thor and Bruce were on the ground with a host of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, not needing a heavy hitter just yet. Hopefully not at all. They didn’t want to be the reason the Trade Center went down again. Instead, Thor was discussing the magical properties of the shielding they were using to lockdown half the floors and control their hostages while Bruce was examining a sample of green dust that was covering one of the rooms.

The suspects had gotten wise to Sam after the second time he managed to swoop in to one of the windows and passed a magical artifact to Natasha. They started keeping a closer eye out for him, firing lightening balls at him if he came too close. The three of them inside were looking for a way around the shields, something so that they could try and lockdown the captors and make sure the hostages were safe.

They’d found their way several floors down from the roof to a room that had the shield cutting it in half and had plenty of blind spots for them to hide in. Natasha was glowering at the shield, holding the fragment of magical necklace up to. It was a piece of what Wong, a friend and teacher to Dr. Strange, called ‘Brísingamen’. A necklace from Norse mythos that was relatively unknown but the piece he had given them was able to cancel out magic when in a woman’s hands. Yet while it only worked in Natasha’s hands, it was still a chore to get it to work at all. She wasn’t a magic user, so the artifact was fickle to her at best. The ‘Sorcerer Supreme’ would be useful about now, but apparently, he was out battling some interdimensional demon and was unreachable. So, this was the best they had. She shifted it and twisted it a bit, the shield shimmering almost as if it was going to dissipate before strengthening again. “Dammit,” she murmured.

Bucky grimaced, Steve had taken to checking for places the shield may miss, like through a vent or something like that. It would have been nice if Thor had a single stealthy bone in his body, but he had given them all the information he could on using Brísingamen. His use of magic was mostly in his use of his hammer and beyond that had always been Loki’s area of expertise. “This is eating up time, there has got to be some other way to get in there…” he murmured, glowering at the flickering white and gold of the shield.

“Well, you’re welcome to go help Cap with his search, but otherwise Thor will have to come in with his hammer and that will risk the hostages,” she said, eyes still trained on the necklace.

He cursed, beginning to pace as he timed out the rotation of the captors. They’d be back in four minutes and twenty-three seconds. He was about to take her up on helping Steve when the shield flickered again and Bucky caught sight of a series of lines that trailed to what looked like a central hub of more, thin coils of magic, “Widow, there,” and pointed to it, “Make the shield flicker again.”

She nodded and twisted the necklace once more and watched where he was pointing. Her eyes narrowed as she saw it. “Cap, may have something,” he said into their comms and after getting an affirmative that Steve was on his way back Bucky crouched down.

Natasha slid onto his shoulders easily and he hoisted her up, but she still had to stretch to reach it. Steve arrived back a moment later, stepping close as he watched. One flicker, two flickers, then suddenly the entire section was gone. They didn’t waste time and Bucky grabbed Natasha’s thighs to keep her steady as she bent forward to brace herself for the quick movement of him darting forward, Steve right next to him. She was lucky she had, if she hadn’t ducked her head she would have smacked into the shield as it quickly coiled in to fill the gap made. 

Natasha tucked away the artifact and smiled at Bucky, the only compliment she gave in the middle of a mission. Steve clapped him on the shoulder, “Good eye. Time?”

“Two minutes, nineteen seconds,” he listed off, they had to move fast.

The suspects were too assured in their shield and the idea that the Avenger’s wouldn’t have the magical knowledge to deal with it. The patrol they had seen moving through the halls while trying to get past the shield seemed to be the only ones on the floor, and as they moved down there was a patrol for each floor. They cleared each floor carefully, mindful of surveillance and communication. Bucky and Natasha kept Steve in line as they maneuvered, he had learned long ago to let the two spies take the lead on missions like this. Then they finally found a group of hostages it made rage boil in Bucky.

They weren’t tied up or watched, they had been left in a large room to their own devices. Not that there was really much they could do though. They were all glaze eyed and whimpering, some flailing about like they were trying to fight something, others had curled up anywhere they could find to hide and cry. The only indication that they had been drugged instead of it being some sort of spell was the green dust that covered everything. “Hulk, we need what the dust is,” Steve said quietly into his comm, not wanting to agitate any of the hostages.

“I’m working as fast as I can, what symptoms are they showing?” Hulk, or Bruce outside of a mission, asked.

“Panicking, but weak, they don’t seem to really recognize anyone around them. Darting, rolling eyes, most seem short of breath, curled into fetal position, lain on the floor, or trying to hide. It doesn’t seem to be effective once it’s settled though. Even what our feet is kicking up settles quickly,” Steve listed off, reaching out to one that was sobbing something about his mother.

Bucky put a hand on his arm, shaking his head at him. Steve nodded slowly, jaw clenching as he looked over the people, “There’s nothing we can do for them like this, Cap. Best we can do is get the assholes that are playing hopscotch with trade and bank accounts.”

That seemed to refocus Steve and they turned, moving to leave when suddenly a new wall of the magical barrier appeared around the room, “Shit!” Bucky growled, gun in hand as he looked for someone to shoot at.

“Ah, Captain, Wolf, and Widow. So nice of you to join us. You did very well infiltrating our operation, however you left too many bodies in your wake. I hope you don’t mind that I plan revenge for my fallen men,” came a voice, presumably whoever was running the heist.

They were trying to be some sort of posh Englishman but were failing miserably. The speech patterns were off by a mile and it was easy enough to pick up. Even Steve was rolling his eyes. Natasha jerked her head to the far door, the window beside it was a blind spot. Steve squared himself in front of the camera, “You’re not going to hold us for long,” he challenged.

“With you coherent? No, but babbling messes like these fools around you? Yes,” and then they saw the green dust pouring in from the vent near them. 

Without hesitation Natasha pulled out a small rebreather and had it in her mouth, other hand plugging her nose. Steve did the same. Bucky’s was already in his mask, but who knew if either would actually help. Natasha pulled out the necklace and set it to the shield. This time they found the weak point quickly and had to bust through a door to get out, but once they were out they got down the hall and to a staircase, closing the door quickly in case the green dust started coming out of more of the vents. 

“Anyone feel anything off?” Steve asked, looking between them as he pulled away his rebreather, but kept it at the ready.

“Nothing yet, I don’t know that these are going to help much though,” Natasha said, gesturing with her rebreather.

Bucky nodded in agreement, he’d felt the grime of the dust as well, but it didn’t seem enough to affect them yet. It would take a lot to get to Bucky or Steve, Natasha not so much. They’d have to keep an eye on her. A look passed between them and Natasha frowned, “I’ll tell you when something is wrong.”

“No, you won’t,” Bucky shot back, and she glared at him.

“We’re keeping an eye on you regardless, Widow,” Steve said with an air of finality.

She looked like she wanted to argue, but nodded instead, “Understood.”

Steve nodded in return and then moved to the next level down. Bucky glanced around the hall outside and saw three cameras in immediate view, so they knew they had gotten out. They couldn’t take this slow. He winced as his earpiece whined shortly, frowning in confusion, and then there was a woman’s voice in his ear, “White Wolf, please do not be alarmed,” she stated immediately, an Irish lilt to her words.

He motioned at Steve and Natasha, who each looked at him in confusion. He shook head and tapped his earpiece, “Who are you?” He asked.

“I go by Friday, but I promise that I am here to help,” she said, and wasn’t that just confusing.

How could this woman help more than their men on the ground? Or Thor? Who was she? “And how can you help?” He asked, eyes narrowed.

“In approximately four minutes, all video feeds for four floors above and below floor 132 will begin to loop. There is a blind corner one floor down outside of the stairs and around the corner on the left where there is also a vent. Go there and I will start the loop. Then you can proceed with less of a worry over the hostages,” she explained.

It was a risk, they had no idea who this was, but if she was able to make good on her word then it would give them a one up they’d lost. He looked to Steve, “Check where the techs are with the cameras.”

Steve nodded and was quick to step away and speak into his headset. A moment later he shook his head at Bucky, they weren’t close. He pursed his lips and looked between them, then motioned them to follow. Natasha and Steve followed without a word to the blind corner, “All right, Friday.”

“Thank you, White Wolf. Videos feeds are now looping, cameras off,” she said, assured of herself.

He peered around the corner and the red light to the camera was off. He turned back to them, pulled the earpiece out and turning it off for the moment and gesturing they do the same, “We have an interloper, she’s on our side, supposedly.”

Steve frowned, and Natasha tilted her head, “Who?”

“Name’s Friday, she’s looped the camera feeds and turned them off. We may have a one up,” he relayed.

Steve checked the camera as well, still frowning, “Well, I’m thankful for the help. Let’s hope it’s not a trap.”

“Let us know if she has anything more to add, since she hasn’t seen fit to talk to either of us,” Natasha said with a raised brow.

Bucky shrugged and smiled, “I’m good with most dames, Widow. Let’s get this done with.”

They turned their communications back on as they began moving again. Arriving on floor 132 was a cake walk, the floor itself was not. It was teeming with goons and there were far too many hostages in the south part of the building that were still coherent. They fell back into the stairwell, “We need a distraction. Then we can get Widow to the shield to disable it.”

“How are we going to distract them though?” Bucky asked, considering options, “One of us will need to play bait.”

“Nothing so drastic is necessary,” Friday said in his ear.

He tapped his ear to signal that she was talking again to the others, “What you got in mind, Friday?”

“One moment, you’ll see,” a humorous edge to her voice.

A moment later they heard a commotion as a man screaming could be heard as they inched open the door and edged out of the stairwell, “What the hell is going on?! What is happening with the money?!”

Bucky’s eyebrows raised as he glimpsed panicked goons running towards a large, windowed in room with numerous computers in it, “What’d you do?”

 “I’ll tell you outside of the crisis. The barrier projector is in the room just beyond the main terminals and is less guarded now, go!” She said into his ear.

Bucky jerked his chin towards the other two and Steve looked skeptical, but so far her instructions had not led them astray so they began to sneak their way past the now scrambling goons. Inside the room was an odd, glowing device with a top that opened where the magic flowed out, set in the middle of the room with four men around it. They were easy enough to take down, and Steve tried to close the top, but the artifact itself seemed to be holding it open. Natasha grumbled as she pressed the piece of necklace to the projection. It flickered and struggled to stay active, but a moment later the light went out and Steve quickly closed the container.

It shuddered but didn’t open again, seeming to lock shut with a clunk. That would get their reinforcements in at least. They just had to hold out until they reached their floor. A scream of rage could be heard from the next room and Bucky turned to Steve, “Go, get to the hostages. I’ll hold them off!”

They nodded, taking out their rebreathers as they saw wisps of green dust as they left the room. He leaned out, guns at the ready, but he had to dodge a flying bomb of green dust. It was everywhere in seconds, making him grimace as the grime of it started to fill his mouth and nose. He focused on the men as they came at him, gun shots careful and precise even as his vision warped. He only stopped when it seemed like they disappeared from his vision, the green engulfing everything. But he heard their footsteps still. Right, then left, lower left. He stepped out of the room and back pedaled as his shots got uncertain, his strength slowly leeched, bit by bit until he stumbled back to the floor. 

The room twisted and faded around him, he wasn’t in the office building anymore, he was lain out on an operating table, things were on his head, and his left arm was only partially there. It was being replaced with new parts and that meant pain. He tried to reason with what his eyes were seeing. The arm wasn’t like that anymore, Shuri had replaced the arm landing with one that didn’t cause pain, that would allow a damaged arm to be replaced easily. He looked up and the face above him mutated unnaturally, one moment it was one of the captors, the next it was Karpov. 

It flipped back and forth between them as whoever it was said, “I wonder what the White Wolf hallucinates about? And what he looks like.”

A hand reached forward, and panic filled Bucky. With his remaining strength he growled and grabbed the man’s arm, snapping it with one quick motion. The man screamed but Bucky simply crushed the gun the man had pulled out with his metal hand before he was drowning in the vision again and pain flared through him with a scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The holidays consumed me. Like, what the hell. It took a while to drag myself out of them and back into some form of normal, so here we are. 
> 
> Also, if you haven't played the game Remember Me, please do! It's so much fun and the soundtrack is so damn appropriate for Bucky in a lot of ways. 
> 
> Please enjoy! Action is not my strong suit so it was difficult to write, but in the end I think it turned out pretty good. 8D
> 
> P.S. I am making some additions to the tags, so PLEASE re-review them!


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